Ancient Blood
by Hyperguy
Summary: Naruto has been feeling strange the past two weeks. A thirst for knowledge has overtaken him as new powers begin to surface, but are they really powers? Or something more ancient? Can this strange floating metal ball tell him the answers he seeks?
1. Blood Runs Deep

**XxXxX**

Naruto sat atop the stone heads of the Hokage monument in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, looking into the dark sky. The warm summer breeze brushed against his face as the moon brightened the stars around it. Naruto always wondered what was beyond those stars. What secrets they held, what different possibilities could come from another intelligent life touching theirs.

Naruto knew he was different from everyone else on this planet. Not because of what was sealed inside of him, but from his body itself. Naruto kept this secret to himself, but his body was completely different. Naruto could read peoples movements just as well as the Sharingan and remember peoples moves far past the limits of the Sharingan. Every jutsu, every punch he took, Naruto could redo them all. Naruto noticed that his energy and physical abilities where far ahead of his age. But why was this? Naruto does not have the Sharingan and did not train himself as hard as Rock Lee. So why is it that Naruto is able to perform at their level?

Naruto looked at the moon in hopes to find some answer to his dilemma. Was it God that blessed him with this ability? Or was it something more? Something that predates his parents and the beginning of the ninja world?

Naruto shook his head and stood from his sitting position. These questions will have to wait for another time. Naruto has a mission tomorrow with Team Gai and he doesn't want to be late.

After Naruto walked down the steps to his home. A little purple light appeared from the forests where Naruto last stood.

"Yes, you are the one that I have been searching for." A voice from where the purple light said before disappearing in a small flash of yellow.

**XxXxX**

Naruto woke up on time. After stretching and getting ready for the day ahead, Naruto exited his apartment and into the hallway.

Over the course of the last few weeks Naruto's personality has changed drastically. Instead of the happy and hyper ninja that everyone remembered, a more hungry and calculative ninja replaced the old one. And Naruto didn't have a hunger for ramen, but knowledge. Something in him seemed empty. Something that wanted to be filled up with knowledge that would help and protect people as well as himself, but Naruto couldn't find any information in this world. Not when he is surrounded by hate and destruction.

While on his way to the meeting point Naruto remembered everything that has happened to him over the past few weeks. Naruto finished the exams, defeated Gaara, and Sasuke left the village. A fun few weeks if you take out the last part. But as Naruto continued walking, ignoring the disappointed looks that he received from the villagers for not retrieving Sasuke, Naruto stopped in his place as he remembered why he didn't beat Sasuke.

Naruto stopped caring. After racking his brain for a solution Naruto came up with a reason. Even if Naruto did retrieve Sasuke, said ninja would leave at first wind of an escape plan. So what was the point? Naruto also gave up on any friendship with the traitor and saving him would pointless.

Naruto arrived at the meeting sight to see that the other four where already there, awaiting his arrival. Naruto was glad to see Neji and Rock Lee recovering and ready to do light missions again, even if Naruto didn't show it. Neji and Rock Lee both put their lives on the line to help Naruto get to Sasuke, but what they thought was a close match, was what Naruto thought was giving up on an old friend that couldn't be saved.

"Ah, Naruto-kun! Glad to see that you finally made it!" Rock Lee shouted as he slapped Naruto on the back. Naruto nodded and put on a fake small smile.

"Yeah, sorry for being late. Just... had to do some thinking." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head. Neji frowned at this.

"It's alright Naruto. We invited you to do this mission for you to get up and out of the house." Gai said with his 'fashionable' smile in his trademark pose.

"Thanks." Naruto said. Neji continued to look at him closely, as if he knew something was not right about Naruto. Everyone thought they knew that Naruto's personality changed due to Sasuke's leaving, but in fact it was something inside Naruto that awakened that day. Naruto's crave for knowledge, but this was all new to Naruto. Naruto didn't know what this craving was and only felt it once before when he learned the Kage Bushin no jutsu. Something inside of him wanted to continue on and learn everything that was hiding in that scroll, but he was interrupted from his hunger that night. Slowly Naruto began to show up at the library and read the books that where housed there, but only after a few days Naruto stopped. Most people thought it was because Naruto only wanted to look smart to the people of the village as everyone thought that Naruto hated reading, but that was not the case. After reading a few of the books and looking over all the others in the library Naruto learned that it was all propaganda and fake tales of Kohona's victories over every other elemental nation. The only ones that Naruto checked out where ones on philosophy something that has interested Naruto for a long time.

"Not a problem! Now lets get on with the mission! We have to transport some documents to a nearby town and then bring back some documents back home." Gai explained as he pulled out the scroll that needed to be transported. "Here is the scroll. This is a C-class mission because we are leaving the village, but the information is simply orders from a construction company here in Kohona for materials."

"Yosh! We will get it done as fast as possible!" Rock Lee shouted with a solute.

"It will take us one day to get there so lets move!" Gai shouted as the two Green Beasts of Kohona dashed off into the distance. Tenten sighed.

"Why do they always do this?" Tenten asked. Neji shrugged and Naruto shook his head.

"Guess we better follow before they hurt themselves." Neji said as the other two nodded and ran after the two.

**XxXxX**

The trip was boring as the two taijutsu experts arrived an hour earlier then the other three Genin, not that the three Genin where surprised at how much earlier the others arrived before themselves. The town was large, but not extremely so. It had a small cliff that walled all around it and the only way down was via stairs and a single large road. The sun was still barely up once the three arrived.

"I have taken the liberty to deliver the documents and pick up the return trip documents before you three arrived. We'll stay here for the night and leave first thing in the morning." Gai said as he turned to Rock Lee. "As for you. We need to push in some training before the sun goes down!"

"Yosh! Lets move!" Rock Lee shouted as the two disappeared before their eyes.

"Those two... well I'm going to my room. What about you two?" Tenten asked.

"I'm going to walk around some. Enjoy the town a little." Naruto said as he turned and walked away.

'Something's up with Naruto.' Neji thought as Naruto disappeared into the crowd of people. Neji was not the only one sharing Neji's feelings. Sakura, Kakashi, Shikamaru, and several of the other Rookies saw that Naruto had something else going on in his life that he was letting know to them. But, what was it?

**XxXxX**

Naruto sat atop a large tree that looked out over the bright lights of the town. A festival brightened the main street as Naruto watched the children play in the streets, their parents not far off laughing with wide smiles on their faces. Naruto smiled at the joyful sight, but then Naruto sensed something behind him. Naruto turned to see a metal ball with a purple glowing eye in the center. The metal ball was floating in the air as it simply stared at him.

Naruto was shocked, surprised, and most of all, interested at the metal floating ball. How did it float? Naruto wanted to know.

"What are you and how do you float?" Naruto asked the metal ball.

"I am 0-101 Moon Light and I am the Monitor of Installation PV. As to how I float... I'll explain that later." Moon Light said. Naruto looked curiously at the Monitor as said monitor stared back. "Yes, you do hold what I have been seeking."

Naruto immediately thought of the Akatsuki and how they wanted what he held.

"The Kyuubi?" Naruto asked.

"No. The Kyuubi is not what I'm looking for. The thing I'm looking for is... you." Moon Light said.

"Me? Why are you looking for me?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"We should not speak here, but let me ask, do you the craving to learn more? To absorb more knowledge over the past few weeks?" Moon Light asked.

"Yes... I have. It just started a few weeks ago. I also have heightened senses and a better memory then most, but I don't tell them that." Naruto said, but then realized that he just gave out one of his biggest secrets to a possible enemy, but something about the floating metal ball made him feel secure. Like he has some sort of attachment to Moon Light.

"Ah, so my assumptions are correct. If you want to learn what all that means then you must come with me." Moon Light said.

"For how long?"

"Depends on how long it will take you to learn."

"But I can't just leave! I was about to leave with Pervy-sage and learn more jutsu from him!"

"I understand. I'll give you one day to make up your mind on what you want to do. Learn about yourself and what's beyond the stars, or stay here." Moon Light said. Naruto was looking down towards the ground, but when he looked back up the purple eye as right in his face. "But let me tell you this, Naruto. The Kyuubi is not the one giving you these amazing abilities."

The monitor backed away from Naruto and as yellow light began to engulf the metal ball, Moon Light had one last thing to say.

"Remember, blood runs deeper then you think."

Then, Moon Light disappeared in a small flash of yellow. Naruto stared at where the Monitor once floated. So these abilities weren't from the Kyuubi? Then what are they from? A better question is... what was he?

"Naruto? Are you ok?" a voice from underneath him asked. Naruto looked down to see his white eyed friend with a look of concern on his face. Naruto jumped down next to his friend.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Naruto replied. Neji looked at Naruto deeply.

"You know, if you need to say something, I'm here for you." Neji said. Naruto looked at him with curious eyes. Neji has never been like this to anyone. Why is he being this way towards Naruto now?

"Thanks, but I'm fine. I just... have a lot to think about." Naruto said.

"I understand. Life always tends to throw someone a rough one. It seems that you have been hit pretty hard lately on Sasuke's leave." Neji said as he noticed that Naruto doesn't flinch whenever the name Sasuke appears like Sakura or Ino. "But, there is something else isn't there?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll tell you someday along with the others, but for now I just need to collect my thoughts and learn what's going on." Neji thought about a way to brighten his friends mood and came up with a plan.

"Do you want to spar?" Neji asked. Naruto looked at Neji in question. "Only a light spar. I just got out of the hospital a week ago so taijutsu only."

"Sure." Naruto replied as the two walked into a clearing. The moon was bright and illuminated the clearing. Neji got into the Hyuga stance.

"This time, Neji, I won't take hits to make myself look weak." Naruto said as he positioned himself into a lazy stance.

"Quit blowing smoke." Neji said as he dashed towards Naruto. Neji has been training since their last match in the Chunin exams and has gotten faster and stronger. Not as fast as Rock Lee, but fast.

Neji sent strike towards Naruto's chest, not a fully powered gentle fist strike, but enough to knock him back. Naruto side stepped and grabbed Neji's fingers.

"Nice try." Naruto said in his new calm mood. Neji jumped back slightly and sent a kick towards Naruto's head. Naruto ducked the kick, but noticed that the kick was a distraction and dodged the strike going towards his head. This time, however, Naruto countered with a hard push to Neji's chest that sent him skirting across the ground. Neji finally stopped and looked at the impact zone to see a bruise where Naruto roughly pushed. Neji looked up at Naruto to see him staring back with blank eyes.

"Naruto? How much stronger have you become?" Neji asked.

"None. I have simply been holding back all this time." Naruto said in a calm voice, but ducked when a kick from a green blur appeared from nowhere. Naruto then blocked the punch that was sent towards his head and countered by pushing the green blur away. Rock Lee landed on his feet in his traditional stance.

"The flames of youth burn brightly in you Naruto-kun! And you have been holding back all this time?" Rock Lee asked as Gai appeared in the clearing.

"A friendly spar I see! That is very youthful! Do you mind facing Lee? He is in need of a different sparing partner then Tenten and Neji!" Gai shouted. Naruto shrugged and returned into his relaxed stance.

"Sure, but note that I fight differently when I'm trying." Naruto said as Lee lifted his thumb up into the air.

"Of course! I wouldn't want a spar any other way!" Lee shouted before disappearing and reappearing behind Naruto with a kick going towards his head.

'To slow Naruto-kun. Rock Lee is the fastest Genin in the village. There is no way you can react to Lee's position now.' Gai thought in pride, but was dumbstruck when Naruto bent over and dodged the attack. Naruto then grabbed Lee's leg and proceeded to quickly throw Lee over him and towards Gai. Gai caught his surprised student who looked at Naruto in shock.

"But, how did you know I was behind and how I was going to attack?" Lee asked.

"Quick reactions with a combination of guessing your muscle movements before disappearing behind me. Do you want another round?" Naruto offered as he returned to his stance.

"Yosh! Lets go-!" Lee started, but was cut off when Gai interrupted.

"No, Lee. Another round would be pointless. I don't know how you do it Naruto, but your recent training has improved you tremendously." Gai said. Lee was disappointed that he wouldn't get another shot at beating Naruto and Neji simply grinned at how Lee was also unable to hit Naruto. "Alright everyone, we have a long trip home tomorrow. Lets get some rest."

"Understood Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted as Neji and Naruto simply nodded.

**XxXxX**

The trip home was just as boring as the trip there. The same thing happened though. Gai and Rock Lee dashed ahead of the other three Genin and arrived an hour ahead of them. Again, Gai and Lee turned in the mission and handed out the money to the three just arriving.

"Ok team! We will train tomorrow at the regular scheduled time! Naruto, it was nice to have you accompany us on the mission. Keep up your amazing training as it has helped you greatly. Everyone! Dismissed!" Gai shouted as Neji and Tenten walked away in different directions and Gai and Lee in another.

"Gai-sensei!" Naruto called out. Getting his attention.

"Hold on one moment Lee." Gai said as he walked over to Naruto. "What do you need, Naruto?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Kakashi-sensei is, would you?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, yes, Kakashi. He just arrived from a mission." Gai said as Naruto turned around to see Kakashi walking threw the gates reading his little orange book.

"Thanks, Gai-sensei." Naruto said as he ran over to his sensei.

Once Naruto was near Kakashi, said Jonin looked over at his student.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked in confusion. It wasn't everyday that Naruto wants to talk to him when he wasn't training.

"Kakashi-sensei, could you help me with something?" Naruto asked. Kakashi raised a brow at this.

"And that would be?"

"Just something that has been troubling me lately." Naruto replied. Kakashi nodded and put away his book. Kakashi has also seen how much Naruto has changed lately and thought it was about Sasuke, but if Naruto needed to talk about it then he would hold out a helping hand.

"Sure. Let go." Kakashi said as he laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder and the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The two appeared atop the fourth Hokage's head once they exited the jutsu.

"So, what is it that you needed to talk about?" Kakashi asked. Naruto was quiet for a moment before talking.

"Would you leave the village to train if it meant helping everyone in the long run?" Naruto asked as the setting sun was just licking the horizon. Kakashi thought about it and sighed in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"If it meant becoming a missing ninja to help the people that are close to you then would you become a missing ninja?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto in surprise, but quickly replaced his surprise with a look of thought. Become a missing-ninja? Becoming a missing-ninja meant that you where to be hunted down and killed for betraying or leaving your village without your Kage's consent. Why would Naruto ask a question like that? After a long moment of thought Kakashi made up his conclusion.

"Yes, I would become a missing-ninja if it meant protecting those close to me, but only if I had to. Why do you ask?" Kakashi asked. Naruto stayed silent as he looked at the setting sun.

"Just wondering, that's all." Naruto replied. Kakashi stayed where he was, not liking the answer. Naruto knew he had to make something up to get Kakashi off his back. Kakashi was a smart ninja and is one of the most powerful in the village. Tricking him would not be easy. So, Naruto came up with a plan that would be both believable and truthful in the eyes of the elite Jonin next to him.

"I was just wondering if that's what Sasuke was doing when he left." Naruto said. Kakashi nodded, taking the answer.

"No, Sasuke left because he had a lust for power. Sasuke wants to use that power to crush his brother and avenge his clan as well as quell his own thirst for revenge. You would do best not to follow down the same path, Naruto." Kakashi said as he stood up from his sitting position. "Need a lift home?"

"No, I got some thinking to do." Naruto replied. Kakashi nodded in understanding. Losing a close friend like that is tough. Kakashi has had first hand experience in that department. But, Kakashi also knew that Naruto may do anything now, even turn into a missing-ninja.

"Well, whatever you do, just know that I support you. Good luck in your adventures ahead." Kakashi said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Naruto stayed in his position for a long time. The setting sun bathed him with its orange glow until it slowly slipped behind the horizon. Naruto stood from his sitting position and looked at what was left of the suns rays. Naruto has made up his mind.

**XxXxX**

Sakura was walking down the street lit road. Destination? Hokage tower. Tsunade has agreed to give her training in the medical field for she has lately been feeling small and useless around her teammates. Sakura wanted a purpose in her team, something that will help them in their missions, but with the disappearance of Sasuke, her training has wavered.

Sakura has had a crush on Sasuke since the Academy days, and she was not afraid to let people know. Sakura fought with Ino and several other girls over Sasuke's love, but only for the prodigy Uchiha to reject their approaches. Sakura made a promise with her only remaining teammate to bring him back, but that was selfish. Now she has noticed the change in the way Naruto acted, the way he trained, everything. Naruto was not the same hyperactive ninja that she knew, but her feelings have changed, slightly. Sakura has now began to notice that she has taking a liking to her now calm teammate. Along with many girls around the village, they are beginning to like the more calm Naruto as well, but Sakura likes not what's on the outside, but his loyalty to his friends and those close to him. Even with his change in personality, Naruto still protects his friends and stays by them until the bitter end.

Sakura was cut from her musings when she saw the ninja that plagued her thoughts. Sakura was expecting Naruto to say something to her first, but once he walked by her with his stare locked on the ground she realized that something was wrong.

"Naruto?" Sakura said, getting the attention of the now calm and calculative boy. Naruto looked up and smiled a small smile.

"Oh, hey Sakura-chan." Naruto replied as he walked back to Sakura.

"Are you ok? You don't look like yourself." Sakura said.

"Oh, you know, I'm just going to be leaving for a long time, that's all." Naruto said. Sakura then realized that Naruto's trip with Jiriaya was tomorrow morning and nobody bothered to say goodbye!

"Oh my gosh! That's right! I have been so busy with my training that I forgot about the time! I'm sorry!" Sakura exclaimed, making Naruto raise a brow.

"It's fine? Well, good luck with your training Sakura-chan. I'll see you later." Naruto said as he turned to leave, but was stopped when the pink hair girl wrapped her arms around the blond.

"There, something to remember me by on your long trip. Good luck Naruto-kun!" Sakura said before running down the street. Naruto scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

**XxXxX**

Naruto was seen standing on the head of the Fourth Hokage, looking out over the village that he held so dear. Naruto turned when a small flash of yellow erupted behind him.

"Have you chosen?" Moon Light asked.

"I'll go with you. Something about you seems... right. Like I have a connection with you."

"I bet you do. Come lets talk somewhere more secure, Creator." Moon Light said as the two erupted in yellow light.

**XxXxX**

A/N: Ok, so this just a little something, something, that I thought up that I thought would be cool. If you like it, review. If you don't like it, well, don't read it.


	2. Mending Mind with Technology

**XxXxX**

Tsunade was last seen standing next to the grand window that lined the Hokage's office. The tower was much higher then most of the other buildings in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but why was she standing next to the window with a look of concern on her face? It was because the number one most hyperactive ninja disappeared last night and nobody seems to know where exactly he has disappeared to.

Tsunade had already sent a team of Inuzuka's to try and track him down. They should be back within the hour, but as of now Jiraiya and Kakashi where accompanying her in her office as the search teams continued their search for the missing Jinchuriki.

"So, what now?" Jiraiya asked. Jiraiya and Naruto had a long term training trip planned this morning, but once Naruto disappeared, Jiraiya went directly to Tsunade. Jiraiya was the one that told Tsunade of Naruto's disappearance in the first place, but when the sun was covered by thick gray clouds that threatened to rain, Jiraiya thought that Naruto stayed indoors and the two of them where going to postpone the trip until tomorrow. This, obviously, was not the resolving case. Naruto was gone and the three powerful ninja in the office had no idea where.

"Keep up the search. We can't let Naruto become captured by the Akatsuki." Tsunade said, not facing the men behind her.

"But Jiraiya already told you that his contact in Akatsuki has confirmed that they do not posses the Nine Tailed Fox container." Kakashi said.

"I know that damn it! But if he is still out there then he is extremely vulnerable to capture!" Tsunade shouted. There was a silence that ensued the room after Tsunade's outburst. Neither men wanting to take up the position to argue the powerful women. Jiraiya sighed a painful sigh.

"Look, Tsunade. I think-" Jiraiya started, but stopped what he was going to say when a knock on the door became presented to them.

"Who is it?" Tsunade asked.

"The Inuzuka team that was sent out this morning, Hokage-sama!" A voice replied.

"Ah, yes. Come in and give us your report." Tsunade said as she sat down behind her desk. The female Inuzuka walked in and bowed her head in respect.

"Here you are Hokage-sama." The Inuzuka member said as she gave a file to the Hokage. "We searched everywhere. Any escape route, any crowded area, we searched everywhere! But we came up..." The Inuzuka said.

"Empty handed." Tsunade said in surprise as her hands began to shake.

"Yes. We kept sniffing him back to the top of the Hokage Monument. More precisely, the Fourth Hokage's head." The Inuzuka said. Tsunade was now on the verge of crying. How could she have lost him so easily? "Also, there was a message that was etched into a rock on top of the Monument that you might want to see. Whenever you get the chance, that is."

"You are dismissed." Tsunade said as the Inuzuka nodded and left the room. Tsunade now had streams of tears coming from her eyes.

"Damn it! I lost him just like that! First Sasuke, now Naruto! What's next? Neji?" Tsunade shouted as she slammed her hand into the desk, breaking it in two.

"It isn't your fault! Calm down Tsunade!" Jiraiya shouted, trying to calm down the Hokage before she went on a rampage. After a few minutes of shouting senseless curse words and blames, Tsunade finally began to calm down.

Kakashi watched the painful scene with a blank stare. Kakashi knew what happened to Naruto. That conversation the two shared atop the Fourths head was what triggered this in Naruto's head. Kakashi looked to the sky and saw a crack in the clouds.

'So, this is what you wanted. You had this planned all along, didn't you, Naruto? Well, I hope you know what you're doing because you're a wanted man now.' Kakashi thought as Jiraiya said the one thing that was bound to happen.

"He is going to have to be put into the bingo book." Jiraiya said as Tsunade flinched at hearing that. Tsunade didn't like it, but it was the law. If a ninja left the village without permission then they are considered traitors. Sometimes she hated this job.

"Yeah, I'll bring it up in the meeting." Tsunade said quietly. 'You better know what you're doing Naruto. Or I'll beat the living shit out of you when you get back.'

"Lets go check on that message. I would like to see what was left behind." Kakashi said. The two Sanin nodded in agreement. After a short walk to the roof and a quick jump to the Fourths head the three powerful ninja saw the message. It was on a small boulder next to the woods. The three ninja where surprised at what they saw.

The message read: 'I have been called upon by the Gods for a time unknown, but when I fall from the heavens there will be no peace or joy. Only death and destruction will meet my wake.'

What could this mean?

**XxXxX**

"So wait... we are in a space ship?" Naruto asked as he walked around the ship with Moon Light in tow. After disappearing from Kohona, the two reappeared inside a ship that Naruto was currently walking around inside of.

"We are. This is a ship made by your forefathers which was placed on this planet long ago." Moon Light said as a metal object floated by.

"What was that?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"That was a Sentinel. They perform the physical labor and repair of your ships. They also carry a light combat energy beam to combat organic enemies." Moon Light said as Naruto nodded. Moon Light noted that Naruto was taking everything in at better state of mind then originally thought.

Naruto, on the other hand, was taking in every bit of information that was dished out to him, just as Moon Light predicted. Trying to fill the empty void that plagued his mind, but this little bit of information was not enough.

"Who where my forefathers and how did they disappear?" Naruto asked. Moon Light stopped, as if it was thinking. Moon Light took several seconds to process what to tell him.

"The name of your forefathers where called the Forerunners and they where a highly advanced and noble people. They fought in the belief of truth and justice and died believing that. As to how they died... you will learn that in due time. Right now you must follow me to bid your planet a farewell." Moon Light said as they two stopped next to a window in the bridge of the ship. Several golden Sentinels manned the screens and operating systems. All one could see was the dense forest around them, but suddenly the ship was beginning to rise into the air. Soon the window went past the treetops and into the air.

Naruto gawked at what he saw. Other villages began to come into view, including his own, and soon the ship passed the blue curtain that shielded its secrets from their unsuspecting occupants. And as soon as it came, it disappeared. Naruto's planet vanished from view as a black ball appeared in front of the ship.

"What is that?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm... something like a slipspace drive. The process of, in a beat down expression, teleporting an object from one area to another, but we don't use slipspace exactly. The Forerunners created a much more advanced process that you will learn in due time." Moon Light explained. Naruto nodded and accepted the response.

Once clearing the black ball, Naruto wanted to ask more questions.

"I have a few questions, Light." Naruto said to the newly dubbed monitor.

"Well it will take a few minutes to pass threw the electronic discharge field so we have time for a few questions. What do you need?" Light asked.

"Electronic discharge field?" Naruto asked.

"It's a defensive field that prevents all ships from slipspacing close to the planet. This gave the Forerunners a sort of early warning system to prepare for what was to come." Light explained.

"Ah, well I have another question. The way you teleported us away from my village. It's is just like the way the Fourth Hokage got his name the Yellow Flash." Naruto said.

"The Fourth Hokage, that was one of the ones that we have also been watching. Although he did not fully activate his Forerunner blood as well as you did, he still started what eventually led to your activation. His famous jutsu was not a jutsu at all." Light explained.

"What? Of course it was a jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Not at all. As you know the Fourth made his own kunai, but kept the secret of what the material of his kunai was made of. Well, he found ruins of a Forerunner structure which he decided to mine some of minerals next to said structure. The minerals that he mined held some of the materials that the Forerunners used in their teleporters. The teleporters allowed the Forerunners to teleport to a teleporter at any time in a flash, but most teleporters have been lost in time and the material that the Forerunners used to make the teleporters have also been erased from our memories. But, anyway, the kunai only activated to his blood and those related to him, not because of the seal that he thought he made, but the Forerunner minerals inside his 'special' kunai. It does, however, activate to your's, Creator." Light said. Naruto processed the information and his eyes widened after a few seconds.

"So that means... the Fourth is my father?" Naruto said.

"Of course. You did not know that?" Light asked. Naruto shook his head. "How else would the Fourth Hokage know how to create all those jutsu? He held an immense amount of understanding in the sealing arts, but where you're going, you will learn something more expansive then that. As to how the Forerunner blood appeared on your planet... that remains unknown."

Naruto nodded. Naruto was quick to get over learning who his father was because he had his thoughts on who his father was and one of his main theories was the Fourth, but to hear it as a fact was still surprising. Naruto was also quick to notice that Light had no idea how the Forerunner blood appeared on his planet, but Naruto quickly tossed this thought aside for later contemplating as Light mentioned something else that Naruto has been wondering about.

"Look, Creator. This is your ancestors planet... as well as yours." Light said as Naruto looked up and out the window. At first there was nothing, but just as Naruto was about to question Moon Light, an invisible camouflage began to breakaway from the planet. There was lush blue oceans, but little to no green. All was brown and grey with a large symbol etched into the grey. The brown was obviously rock or dirt. The grey was urban areas, which made up most of the planet. But the green symbol baffled Naruto. What could it mean? Before Naruto could express his thoughts Light said something first.

"We are landing in the main library where you are not leaving until you learn of your forefathers past." Light said as he floated out of the bridge of the ship. Naruto watched as they landed right in the center of the symbol, but was surprised when all the buildings in the area where completely destroyed except for a large building in the center. Naruto noted that the sky was clear blue with a single purple sun in the air, but the colors where the same as on his old planet. The architecture was similar to the ship, all a steel material and purple lights, but as the roof opened up, Naruto was stunned at the rows and rows of glowing blue lights. There was obviously hundreds of thousands of years of information stored here. How was he supposed to learn all of this information in one life time? One could not even see the roof from where he stood inside the bridge!

Naruto exited the bridge and out of the ship only for Light to disappea.

"Light?" Naruto shouted. The purple monitor floated from around the corner of one the shelves.

"Yes Creator?" Light asked.

"How am I supposed to obtain all this information?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, yes. Follow me please. Learning the history of every species including your own should be simple and fast." Light said as the two went down various rows of shelves until coming to a stop in front of a large open area. Light streamed in threw a hole in the roof and into the center of the massive room. The light fell upon a single chair in the center of the room that had thousands of cables flowing underneath the floor which one could see threw the hard glass on the floor.

"What is-" Naruto started, but was cut off when five golden Sentinels grabbed his arms, legs, and head and pinned him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Naruto shouted as he struggled against the five large machines, but to no avail. After landing on the planet, or rather leaving his own, Naruto noticed that he became heavier and his chakra reserves all dissipated or where locked away. Probably because his old planet support its use while on other planets chakra simply locks away.

"Creator, for you to learn all this information in a short amount of time you must bare with us. That chair is connected to every storage unit in this building and you will need a connector tap into it all. I'm sorry for taking you by surprise, but this must be done." Light said as Naruto calmed down.

"Ok, just don't take me by surprise again." Naruto said. Light nodded and at that time another Sentinel that looked different then the others floated over behind Naruto.

"This is a Medical Sentinel. It used to take care of any injury that both Sentinel and Forerunners took, but I must warn you this process will be painful. You may not live threw it." Light said as Naruto breathed in heavily.

"Lets just see about that." Naruto said.

"As you wish, Creator." Light said as he nodded to the Medical Sentinel. The Sentinel lowered towards the back of Naruto neck and pulled out a photon drill and other equipment that was needed to place connector inside of Naruto. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and awaited the pain to envelope him, but what he thought was going to be torture turned out to be something completely different.

As the photon drill came closer, the Sentinel quickly and precisely jabbed the blue drill into Naruto and in the blink of the eye replaced the hole with the connector. Naruto blinked.

"That didn't hurt at all." Naruto said as the Sentinels still held onto Naruto.

"That was not the painful part." Light said, but as Naruto began to question Light, Naruto suddenly felt as if every part of his brain was being squeezed threw a straw and chewed up. Naruto tried to squirm, but the Sentinels would not let him and Naruto realized that he was no longer controlling his actions. "What is going on?"

"The connector is searching your brain for that deep endless void that has hidden itself inside your brain. The connector needs to be able to make a solid connection with that void so when you're obtaining all the information it can dump and organize it inside the void at a quick rate. All Forerunners went threw this and lived. Lets hope you can do the same." Light explained.

Naruto felt as if barbwire was shoved into his ear and wrapped around his bran then poked out the other. Then two people where grabbing both ends of the wire and pulling as hard as they could.

Naruto struggled against the feeling of the connector searching his brain. He hated the fact that the connector was looking into every past thought and memory that he held, but then something struck him.

The connector was a part of him. Something that will help him fill the empty void that threatened the rest of mind. Naruto relaxed and let the connector search his brain. Everything that was his was now shared with the Forerunner object in the back of his head. The pain steadily began to decrease as the defense that was once in front of the connector was now gone. Naruto began to notice that the connector was now sorting threw the memories that he already held and organizing them in an even neater order then what Naruto already accomplished. Finally the pain dispersed and the Sentinels let go of their hold on Naruto. Naruto struggled to stand, but fell back down onto the ground. Two of the Sentinels caught Naruto and helped him into a standing position. Naruto looked up to see Light floating in front of him.

"I see you finally let the connector search threw your brain freely. A good job because if you where to pass out when you where resisting, you would have died. Has the connector found it?" Light asked. Naruto racked threw his pounding brain and found that the Connector had indeed found the empty void.

"Yes." Naruto replied.

"That's great! If you where to delay this procedure any longer then that void would have taken over your mind and you would been brain dead." Light said in a pleased voice. Naruto nodded, but then thought of something.

"So if I would have not come with you then I would been brain dead in a matter of years?" Naruto asked.

"Months actually. You see, I didn't want to use that as leverage to force you to come. I wanted you to come on your own decision. Not on a 'if I don't go then I'll die' basis." Light said as Naruto understood what the Monitor was telling him. Light wanted Naruto come on his own freewill. Not on a do or die situation.

"Would like to start the process now? Or would rather rest?" Light asked.

"How long will it take?" Naruto asked.

"Depends on how fast you and your connector can process the information. When you enter the Downloader you can not stop until you completely learn everything. The process should take three to four years." Light said as Naruto was shocked. Three to four years? He had to return to his home planet in at least two and a half! Light seemed to see the distress and shock on Naruto's face and moved to calm the young Forerunner. "Please also note that three years on this planet are equivalent to one year on your old planet. Your old planet has a strange cycle that is completely different from most other planets so do not fret."

Naruto visibly calmed. He had much more time then he thought he would have, but something came to Naruto attention.

"How will I eat and take care of myself?" Naruto asked.

"I'm glad you asked. When you are in the Downloader, we will insert a variety of chemicals into your body that will feed, hydrate, improve your muscle and bone structure, and increase your metabolism temporarily. All excess waste inside your body will automatically turn into muscle due to a special chemical that our older Creators made for use and put into storage. The chemicals are not permanent so we will stop injecting you when you are close to finishing." Light explained. As Light explained, Naruto noted that everything that was just explained to him was instantly remembered and stored neatly inside his mind. Slowly the void that was plaguing his mind began to become calm now that there was a connection to it.

"So, shall we begin?" Light asked as Naruto nodded and followed Light to the chair. Naruto looked down at the chair in wonder. How could such a small thing like this bring such immense power, but there was so much more to Downloader then what met the eye. Thousands of years of knowledge collected of not just themselves, but from every other species that's out there. Even of the Shinobi world.

Naruto sat in the chair and noticed that it began to glow bright blue along with every shelf in the building. From the chairs face, a glowing blue cord began to extract itself and move closer to Naruto's Connector.

"Please finish as fast as possible. We have much to discuss afterwards." Light said. The blue cord shot into Naruto's Connector and then, everything went black.

**XxXxX- 2 days after Naruto disappearance **

"Leader-sama, I can't find him anywhere. The nine tails has literally disappeared, but there was a message that was left behind." An image of a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds etched across it.

"Hmm... this is problematic, but what is the message?" The man asked. There two others in the room that where also listening to what Zetsu had to say. One of the people standing there was Konan. A long term friend that has been with him threw thick and thin. A sister that has seen the darker days of their past. The other was a person who helped him create this organization. This person was thought to be long dead, but has somehow survived this long. The other persons name is Madara Uchiha.

"'I have been called upon by the Gods for a time unknown, but when I fall from the heavens there will be no peace or joy. Only death and destruction will meet my wake.'" Zetsu said.

"Thank you. You are dismissed." The Leader replied as the image of Zetsu disappeared.

"What are we to do now, Pein?" Konan asked. Pein looked down to the ground in a thinking position.

"Any ideas Madara?" Pein asked. Madara shook his head as he himself was completely shocked as to why Naruto left the village he so dearly loved and how his scent could just disappear.

"Naruto couldn't have just disappeared. This is troubling, what does he mean 'Called upon by the Gods'?" Madara asked out loud.

"Could it be that he is receiving special training?" Pein replied.

"Whatever the reason we still have to obtain the other Jinchuriki. Everyone still has their missions. Tell Itachi and Kisami to search for Naruto. He's still here, somewhere." Madara said.

"And yourself? What will you do?" Konan asked Madara. Madara stood and began to walk away.

"I've got other plans." Madara said as he disappeared from the room.

**XxXxX- Two years after activating the Downloader**

"Creator. Creator are you awake?" A voice asked as Naruto slowly awakened from his deep slumber. His eyes where blurry and his head pounded with the knowledge of thousands of years of intelligence being pumped into his head. Naruto pressed a hand against his forehead as the pounding slowly began to dissipate.

"Ah, Creator, you are finally awake. How does it feel?" Light asked as Naruto looked up at Light. Light noticed that his eyes no longer held that glow of inspiration, but of calculation and a waterfall of endless knowledge. Naruto stood from the Downloader and brushed himself off. He was much taller then he used to be. The chemicals effects possibly?

"Great. How long has it been?" Naruto asked.

"Roughly two years. You made great time as most other Creators took about three to four years." Light said. Naruto nodded in understanding.

"I see, but did the chemicals accelerate my growth process? I seem to be taller then I should be." Naruto said as he looked down at his jumpsuit.

"It seems your body acted strangely to the chemicals, but no harm was done. The only difference was that your physical body should be around the age of fifteen. Not fourteen." Light said. Naruto began to look around.

"The year is 2520 Human year, correct? I understand that the Covenant is a force to be reckoned with and the Humans are as well, but... the Covenant is so much larger and entangles many species. Even the Forerunners would have a tough time with such a numerous adversary." Naruto said as he began to walk the halls of the large building like he made it. Light took note that Naruto probably knows all of the infrastructure/architecture of almost every Forerunner facility.

"And the Flood... a infestation that feeds of the intelligence of sentient life. A truly devastating foe indeed, but my ancestors had the technology to defeat it. It's just they waited to long. It took too much time to analyze the Flood and create a counter technique against it. That is what led them to create and activate Halo. A thousand other plans where tried and failed. They sacrificed themselves to allow the creatures of the Covenant and the Humans to create their own futures, but it seems... the Covenant have stumbled upon the seeds of their forgiving... and the seeds of their destruction." Naruto said as he entered a room with Light close behind. At least eighteen different suits where guarded by Forerunner hardened glass. Unlike the early models of the Spartan suits which consist of armor plating, the Forerunner suits are more like combat skin. During the early Forerunner-Flood War, the Forerunners where unprepared to fight a purely biological enemy and was unable to attach personal shields to any suits under the class of sixteen. The little suits that did obtain the PS's (personal shields) where extremely strong. The skins that where between one and three where considered civilian skins. Four threw eight are for civilians with hazardous jobs. Eight to eleven are reserved for the police force and the civilian armies. Twelve to fifteen where worn by the military while sixteen to seventeen where reserved for veterans, elite soldiers, and generals. The last suit was reserved for someone special. A Forerunner that could put an end to their long time rivals.

Most of the skins looked the same. All had the same color scheme of grey and navy blue. The only difference is the change from civilian, to military, to high ranking officers. The civilians wore only the skin with a small internal power system. The military suits, which consists of the numbers twelve to fifteen, had helmets that look similar the Mk. IV [G] Spartan helmet. The lens of the helmet was maroon while the helmet itself stuck with the basic color scheme of the rest of the line, grey. The military suits also sported a larger power cell that allowed them to power their helmets and other weapons. The higher the number, the larger the power cell. The last line of combat skins where reserved for the most elite soldiers and high ranking officers. The skins had a different pattern on them that stood out from the rest. The helmet was completely different from the lower numbers. Instead of a lens, the helmet instead sported dark holes that was impossible to see into. The suit had different shades of grey and dark blue etched into a a strange formation that confused most when the design was introduced. A larger power cell that could support their new personal shields, weapons, and helmets allowed them to stay in combat for a much larger duration then the common soldier. The final skin looked much like the ones bellow it, but another piece of clothing was added to the final design. A cloak like garment was thrown overtop with the same design as the armor underneath.

This cloak held many secrets that Naruto was not familiar with. Either the Forerunners didn't put this information for a reason, or they never had time. Naruto walked over to the stand that held the armor, labeled Class 18.

"So this is what the 'Hero of the Heavens' wore while fighting the Flood." Naruto said as he kneeled down onto one knee. "Let your power flow threw me as I carry on what you left behind."

After trashing his old orange jumpsuit, Naruto replaced it with the number eighteen armor with the cloak. Light watched as the helmet was slowly placed over Naruto's head. Quickly the Connector in the back of Naruto's head connected to the helmet.

Naruto looked threw the dark holes only to find them not so dark. The 'Forerunner Vision' encompassed heat vision, night vision, and Flood vision, which allowed him to see Flood threw a thin walls. The helmet also automatically scanned a target and brought up all information that was stored inside of Naruto's mind.

This was demonstrated to Naruto as Light was quickly scanned and any information about the Monitors was brought up to Naruto.

"I see you have chosen the Class 18 skin. A nice choice, but you have yet to master the suit. You may know what they do, but to master the suit as well as the Forerunner weapons will take extensive training." Light said. Naruto was quiet as he looked at his combat skinned hand. After clenching his hand Naruto looked up at his friend.

"Then lets get started." Naruto said.

**XxXxX**

"This search is going on for far to long. How many relics are scattered threw out this galaxy?" A tall like alien asked as two of the same looking aliens walked down a ship. The two alien species are called Sangheili, otherwise known as the Elite' Sangheili are a saurian species of fierce, proud, strong, agile and intelligent warriors and also skilled combat tacticians. The Sangheili form the military backbone of the Covenant due to their military skill and adeptness in battle. The Covenant, also referred to as the Covenant Empire was a religious hegemony of multiple alien species that controlled a large portion of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way galaxy. The Covenant worships Forerunner artifacts that are scattered threw out the galaxy, including on the Sangheili home world, Sanghelios.

"Have patience Hyus Granedum. The Prophets are doing their best in finding the remaining artifacts." The other Sangheili said in a calm voice. This Sangheili was wearing navy blue armor with a helmet that came to a point out in front of his mouth. A single blue wing like attachment protruding from the back of the helmet.

"The Prophets are beginning to annoy me Commander Ugana. We have been searching all over the galaxy for these Rings and have only come up with one." Hyus said. Hyus was wearing maroon armor similar to Commander Ugana, but without the wing attachment. San 'Shyuum, also known as Prophets, are a mammal-like species who are the leadership caste within the Covenant and one of the more mysterious member races of the hegemony. Prophets appear to exert complete control over religious and political affairs, fulfilling their role as leaders. Prophets enforce a theology based on the belief that firing the Halo Array will start the Great Journey, transcending them into a god-like status. Although physically frail compared to other Covenant species, they wield near absolute power over the Covenant. They have a strong religious importance throughout the Covenant.

Ugana and Hyus are a part of a special operations team that take on the most brutal and dangerous operations. Ugana was a commander that lead at least one hundred Sangheili into the battle Watrum Specter 9 where a Heretic Legion broke away from the Covenant and attempted to 'convert' any Covenant away from their religion. Hyus also fought beside Ugana in this battle and since then has been acting strangely.

Ugana quickly grabbed Hyus by the neck and slammed him into the wall of the ship. A bright white beam protruded from his hand and was a little under an inch from Hyus's neck.

"Do you dare undermine the Prophets?" Ugana shouted. Several Spec-Op Unggoy's, otherwise known as Grunts, stopped and looked at the Unggoy are a species of small, squat bipedal arthropods in the unified races of the Covenant. They are the lowest-ranking species in the hierarchy, and are frequently mistreated by almost every higher-ranking race. Unggoy are primarily used as laborers or, in combat situations, cannon fodder. They are one of the later races to be introduced into the Covenant, and were the third Covenant species to be encountered by humans. They are referred to as Grunts, mainly because they are considered weak compared to their superiors and also because they perform the majority of the labor required by the Covenant, but for the Unggoy that reach the rank of Special Operations Divisions, they are tougher, more intelligent, and provide excellent support roles. Spec Ops Unggoy are always deployed with Spec Ops Sangheili team leaders with specialized equipment and sometimes will be lead by Ultra Grunts. These resilient, loyal, and dangerous operatives are not to be underestimated under any circumstances. If a Spec Ops Grunt's leading Elite is killed, rather than panicking and fleeing, they will often seek revenge, finding cover and sending plasma grenades and plasma bolts accurately at the opponent who killed the Elite. They are also much more accurate than their counterparts, and their armor is much more resilient to damage than the other Unggoy Ranks.

"Of course not! I am simply getting annoyed at how long the Great Journey is taking! We have barely scratched the potential of the inner galaxy. Why are we still searching the Orion Arm!" Hyus shouted. Ugana sighed as he put away his Energy Sword. Releasing Hyus, Ugana knew what was plaguing Hyus's mind. Ugana knew that Hyus was not the only one thinking these thoughts as well. Ever since the battle against the Heretics, most Spec Ops under his command and several other Spec Ops Divisions have been questioning the Covenants motives. Hyus was Ugana's second in command. He could not lose his best man.

"I understand, but you must stay loyal. Do not let the Heretics propaganda fool you." Ugana said. After hearing this, Hyus seemed to calm down.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, but it's hard to stay loyal when the Prophets words are absolute without a say from anyone else. I fear that one day they will make a mistake and it will a stir an uproar that can not be quenched so easily." Hyus commented as he walked away from his commander. Little did Ugana know, Hyus and several others have been talking about taking action. An ancient relic told Hyus a hint of what would come to the galaxy if all the Halo's where activated. The little knowledge that was given to Hyus was enough to stir his beliefs in the old religion that the Prophets gave them, but if this religion was wrong, then what was right?

If there is a wrong then there is always a right, right? The Sangheili have always been driven by a strong sense of religious faith. Before it was towards the ancient artifacts they are still worshiping now, but it was different back then. The Sangheili believed that they must leave the artifacts alone and worship them from afar, but when the Prophets fought a bloody war with them, the two came to an agreement to use the artifacts towards a combined enemy. This started the Prophet-Elite Alliance, or the Covenant.

If Hyus and the other weary Spec Ops where to publicly throw out their old faiths, what would they replace it with? So many questions left unanswered. Hyus sat on a bench that faced the deep space. Only time will tell Hyus whether his thoughts where truth or false.

**XxXxX**

A/N: Well, here you go. I tried my best to explain the different Covenant races as well as the Forerunner combat skins, it's really tough to explain the Forerunners equipment. So I'm sure they have images of the Forerunners on Google or something, but if you're too lazy (like I was) then use your imagination and take what I gave you.

I hope you all like my story and I hope to continue writing it.


	3. The Learning of an Ancient Practice

**XxXxX**

"Naruto..."

A whisper that flowed in threw one ear and bounced softly in his mind before leave threw the opposite ear. Naruto continued to lay on the ground, content that he was just hearing things and continued his deep sleep.

"Naruto." The voice was deeper. More ancient then what he was used to hearing around his facility. Naruto stirred as his eyes, painfully opening them to the morning that lay ahead of him, but no light entered his room. Naruto stood and looked around him. He was in a black hallway with blue lights lining the wall.

"Forerunner!" The ancient voice shouted at the end of the hallway with such ferocity that even an elder Hokage would tremble in fear. Naruto flinched as he walked towards the rather large room at the end of the hall that also emitted the ancient rumble. The temperature was cool, but humid. A combination that one does not find easily in any world. Naruto entered the room and saw a large plant like being sitting in front of him.

Eight long tentacles was seen stretching out from base as well as its large body which was simply its long neck with its mouth split into three sections. One on top and two in the lower left and right corners. The being had no eyes as well as no tongue, but the teeth inside of the being mouth was sharpened and rows and rows of them slipped back into its mouth. The body of the plant like creature was a throw up green and green gas continued to ooze out of its mouth.

Naruto stood before the beast in his Forerunner uniform and stared at the being with intense curiosity. What was happening here? Naruto knew he was in a dream, but it felt to real to be only 'just a dream'.

"You are the last Forerunner to survive, are you not?" The planet like creature asked. Naruto said nothing as he looked up at the ancient beast. The beast laughed at Naruto's fortitude.

"You feeble Forerunner! You have no idea the power that I hold!" The plant shouted as Naruto shook his head.

"True, but you are still trapped inside the installation, are you not?" Naruto said as he now knew what the creature was. Deep in the memory files of his suit the 'Hero of the Heavens' came in contact with the powerful creature in front of him. The creature was labeled the 'Gravemind'. This was the pillar that held the Flood infection together. The Gravemind was the central intelligence hub that gave orders to the rest of the infection, but simply killing the Graveminds physical form would not destroy the Flood infection. The Gravemind had the unique ability to move its mind to any other intelligent life form that has been infected. The Hero of the Heavens has already tried this and failed to bring the results they so desperately desired.

"You may have trapped me in one of your horrid vaults, but we both know that some of my minions have already been released by the Covenant. I may not be able to contact them, but once the Covenant get too curious and release me then I shall have the power I so desired!" The Gravemind shouted as its tentacles raised into the air. "I shall soon infect you and gain the knowledge to defeat all that stand in path!"

The tentacles came crashing down onto Naruto with such quickness that Naruto had a hard time keeping up with it, but just as the tentacles were about to smash Naruto into the ground, everything went black.

**XxXxX**

Naruto awoke in a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, Naruto looked about the room in a mixture of panic and fear. After realizing nobody was present in his room Naruto breathed in a sigh of relief.

'The Gravemind. The central intelligence of the Flood. How can one destroy such a monstrosity?' Naruto thought as he stood from his bed. Naruto quickly undressed himself and fit himself into his combat skin and his cloak, which the attachment of a hood was soon added by Naruto himself. Naruto then placed his helmet onto his head and quickly adjusted to his second sight.

It has been a year since Naruto took his first steps off the downloader and Naruto has restarted a lot of the downed production buildings that was once building naval ships, combat sentinels (CS), and arms. Many of the power plants scattered around the planet have also been destroyed and the maximum amount of sentinels that are available to him are staggering low. Over the last year Naruto has been rebuilding the power plants with the small amount of sentinels available to him as well as starting the process of rebuilding the Army and Navy departments so that Naruto would be able to defend himself against any sort of attack, but the process has been slow at best. Most construction sentinels have been put to the task of maintaining the vaults on the installations and the 'lucky' planets that hold them, so the reproduction of the Navy and Army departments have been slow.

Naruto, himself, has been learning how his suit works. Naruto quickly learned how to use his Second sight, a sight that is provided to him by his helmet, to the point that Naruto can accurately guess an enemies next move. The Second Sight quickly scans and analyses the opponent and gives Naruto the complete details of the move that an opponent is using while they are using it. Naruto has also found that the suits internal power core can be used for all sorts of things, for example: controlling a battleship while it's in orbit and Naruto's on the ground, or pressing the power into a blade that can appear and reappear underneath his wrists. The list goes on and on and Naruto was stunned by the versatility of how flexible the energy can be, but there was one thing Naruto has been immensely curious about.

How to use his chakra outside of the Shinobi world. Naruto knows that his chakra is 'locked away' because none of the other worlds supports chakra, but Naruto has a theory that may change the outlook of chakra and how one replenishes ones source.

As Naruto walked up to his balcony that over looked the ruins of a once great city Naruto could sense the chakra flowing threw the metal structures around him. They were pulsing madly with untapped chakra that they were about to burst. Naruto's theory was that one simply doesn't replenish chakra on his or hers own, but the shinobi unconsciously taps into the chakra enriched land around them to resupply their own chakra supply. As Naruto finished his theory Naruto began to feel the chakra inside the metal objects around him and noticed that he was soothed by the mere presence of the ruins around him. The theory made sense since shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Leaves seem to gain chakra at a slightly faster rate then other shinobi that visit the area. Also the type of ecosystem that one shinobi is raised in is different from another shinobis. For example, a shinobi raised in the dessert will learn different techniques then a shinobi raised in the islands off to the east.

Naruto has also been creating a technique that may also change the way one fights a shinobi battle. While Naruto has not been able to build up the amount of chakra like everyone else, Naruto has been learning how to control his chakra to the very fiber as well as possibly creating a style that essentially cancels out other chakra based attacks. Naruto has also been studying mind based styles that would suit well with his technique that he been creating.

Naruto will have to test this when the proper time comes. Naruto has an entire war department to reconstruct and-

"Creator. We have a problem." Light said. Naruto looked up at the floating ball in curiosity at his panicked friend. Never before has Light been so urgent before.

"And that would be?"

"Vault 251 has been compromised." Light said. Naruto sighed in both grief and relief. Naruto was sad because the shinobi are too curious for their own good and relieved because Naruto was ready to go somewhere else other then here.

"I see. Then lets go and expect the damage. Have all of our sentinels retreated from the area?" Naruto asked.

"Yes they have. I have your ship prepped and ready, Creator." Light said.

"Then lets not waste any time." Naruto said as the two disappeared in a flash of yellow only to reappear inside of Naruto's only working ship.

Naruto walked into the bridge to see eight Logistics Sentinels (like the original sentinel, but they have blue metal) to float up and face Naruto.

"Nice to see everyone. You all have our coordinates. Lets see you get there in record time." Naruto said.

Just as the words left his mouth the ship began to take off into the air.

"Fast. I like that." Naruto whispered to Light.

"That is how they are programmed." Light replied with a chuckle.

"Right. Lets just get there as fast as possible shall we?" Naruto said as the ship shot into space.

**XxXxX**

Kakashi has been having a weird day to say the least. Said ninja just returned from a mission just hours before and as soon as he stepped foot into the village three ANBU dashed past him and disappeared off into the distance. Kakashi watched the ANBU's backs until they were out of sight before turning and rushing towards the Hokage tower. The ANBU are never sent out of the village unless there is an extremely good reason behind it and generally most, if not all, of the most veteran Jonin are warned of why it transpired. Of course this was not always the case as most of the more secret mission that are to be kept under the radar are hardly ever let loose to the general population, but for an ANBU team to leave the village in such a hurry and in the open like they did, Kakashi sensed that something was happening.

Kakashi quickly decided that the quickest route would be to jump onto the roofs of the buildings that lined the bustling main street during its eight o'clock rush. As Kakashi continued along his route towards the tallest building in the village, said ninja looked up into the sunny sky. The sunny sky would only deceive any who looked at it threw a bedroom window in the morning as it tricked one into thinking that it was warm and comfortable, but for any who have been in the elements of the frosty morning would know differently. As it may be sunny a frosty breeze blew against the silver haired ninja as he jumped across the buildings. The days have grown short and the nights long, making ninja operations much easier as the extended nightfall gives them extra time to complete their separate missions.

Kakashi landed in front of the tower and in the blink of an eye he was dashing up the stairs of the massive structure. None spared the silver haired Jonin a second glance as he raced threw the halls of the Hokage tower, but Kakashi's swift pace soon came to a halt in front of a pair of large wooden doors. Kakashi knocked on the doors and waited for a moment before he was beckoned inside of the office that lay on the other side of the massive doors. The Jonin opened the doors before closing them behind him. As he turned to face the busty blonde Hokage, Kakashi swiftly took off his creamy tan colored cloak and set it on a coat rack near the entrance of the office.

"Ah Kakashi. Just the man I was looking for. Took your time getting here I see?" Tsunade said with a grin on her face. The question was never meant to be answered as Kakashi could only shake his head at the childish demeanor of his leader.

"It took me a bit to stretch these old muscles since the mission was a simple one, but that's not the reason I rushed here." Kakashi said, ending in a serious tone. Tsunade sighed as she stood from her chair and proceeded to look out the massive line of windows that lined half of wall.

"I take it you saw the three ANBU leaving the village?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi nodded in response to his leaders thoughts. "I would have had a mission briefing and sent a group of Jonin in their place, but no Jonin has returned from their mission assignments yet except for yourself. I had no idea when you where going to report back so I hastily sent a small squad of ANBU to see what's going on."

"What do you mean? What is happening that needs the immediate attention of an ANBU squad?" Kakashi asked.

"Recently a coastal city that touched the Southern Ocean simply stopped all communications to anyone. Ships that have been docked in their harbors have simply vanished and we have no idea why. I have sent a team of ANBU to extract some information and see if its an attack from a foreign nation or possibly something else."

"I see, but now that I'm here what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to follow up on their investigation and help them were they need it. I'll be sending some more reinforcements as they arrive because if this is indeed an attack then I want as many veteran Jonin and any other ninja that has seen combat there to deal with the problem." Tsunade said. "This is to be considered an S rank mission Kakashi. Do what is necessary to complete your surveillance mission."

"Of course Hokage-sama. It will be done." Kakashi said before disappearing in a blur. Tsunade also noticed that the cloak that once sat atop her coat rack disappeared with Kakashi as well.

**XxXxX-Three days later**

"This place has been hit hard." Light said as he hovered next to Naruto who in turn didn't say anything in response. The two were standing atop a ridge that overlooked a massive city that lined the cliffs beneath them on the sandy beached of the Southern Ocean. The city extended out into the salty waters of the ocean and was only supported by a mixture of wood and stone. Naruto was impressed that a city like this existed and noted that it reminded him of the city of Venice, Italy on the planet Earth, home world of the humans.

"What are we to do about this?" Light asked. Naruto stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head in grief.

"If we don't want the entire planet to be infected like Doisac. Position the ship to stay directly above Kilotic. Charge up an IB and fire when I give the command." Naruto said as he looked up to see the sun setting to the west. The fires that engulfed the city continued to burn, stretching its tentacles to neighboring structures that woefully stood next to them. The ash and smoke that was lifted into the air above the once sprawling city was almost thick enough to block out the sun that lays against the western side of the city.

It was ironic, Naruto found, how a city that lives atop water was now burning to the ocean below by an ancient enemy that no one before him has ever seen before. Naruto shook his head of any distracting thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Naruto needed to practice his new technique before he encountered any ninja resistance that will come to recon the city. Naruto needs to hold off any ninja before they entered the town and discovered what has happened to the population.

**XxXxX-Three Hours after Kakashi's departure to Kilotic**

"Man I'm hungry!" A blonde ninja whined as she walked along the bustling streets of Kohona. At her side was her friends Sakura Haruno and Tenten and their objective was their favorite place to eat, Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Soon after Naruto left the village and began to appear on the bingo books as an S-class missing-nin the trio of girls began to go and, at one time, eat at Naruto's favorite restaurant. At first the girls just wanted to eat there, if only once, to remember their once happy comrade that brightened everyones day just by a passing glance at Naruto's once bright and vibrant smile. But after eating the, as Naruto used to say, 'heaven in a bowl' the trio of girls have not been able stop themselves from returning to Naruto's old 'sacred place' and are now seen sitting at the ramen stand at least two to three times a week.

"We know! We know! We are almost there so shut up!" Sakura retorted at the high pitched annoyance that was Ino's voice.

"Well if you would have stopped your training sooner then we would have then sooner!" Ino shouted back at the pink haired kunoichi.

"It's not my fault Tsunade-sensei wanted me to finish my exercise before leaving for lunch!" Sakura retorted stubbornly.

"Yeah well-!" Ino began, but was cut off by Tenten.

"Will you both shut up! We're here ok?" Tenten shouted before Ino finished here rude remark.

The two verbally brawling girls squealed as they ran underneath the cream colored flaps and sat down in their regular seats. Tenten sighed at their antics and followed the two towards her own seat. As said kunoichi sat down Sakura turned towards Tenten as she sat down between the two hot heads.

"Pork right?" Sakura said as Tenten nodded in response. Sakura smiled at the response. "Good because that's what I ordered for you."

"Thanks." Tenten said as the three sat in a momentary silence before a question sprang into Tenten's mind. "What do you think Naruto ordered whenever he came here?"

"Hmm... I never thought of it or thought to ask." Ino said as another silence soon followed. The three girls tossed around what type of ramen Naruto used to eat in their minds until finally Sakura shrugged.

"I don't know, but I think it's chicken." Sakura said with a grin.

"Well I think he used to order steak." Ino said as she folded her arms.

"You only suggested that because that's what you order!" Sakura shouted as she shot her arm across Tenten with a raised finger pointing towards Ino.

"Well you only suggested chicken because that's what you order!" Ino retorted as she extended her arm back at Sakura.

"I think you're both wrong. I bet you he ordered pork!" Tenten shouted, getting involved in the argument.

"You're on! I bet you my bowl of ramen that I'm right!" Sakura said as she slapped her hand down onto the counter in front of Tenten.

"Deal!" The other two kunoichi shouted as they slapped their hands down onto Sakura's hand. The trio of girls did not have wait for much longer as the owners daughter came walking out of the back room with three bowls of steaming ramen.

"Here you guys go. A steak bowl for Ino, a chicken bowl for Sakura, and a pork bowl for Tenten." the brown headed cook said as she laid the bowls in front of their respective receivers. "Hope you guys-."

"Ayame!" Ino interrupted, slightly surprising the young cook. "What was Naruto's favorite ramen bowl?"

"Wha... what?" Ayame said in slight shock at the urgency of the such a weird question. Why would they care what Naruto ate here.

"Whenever Naruto came here to eat, what was his favorite bowl of ramen?" Sakura said in a much calmer voice as her blonde haired friend. The gears in Ayame's head began to turn as the question was repeated to her in a much more relaxed tone.

"Oh. Naruto's favorite bowl of ramen! Well that's easy, it's-" Ayame started, but was cut off when the owner and head chef, Teuchi, walked out of the back room wiping his hands of with a damp rag.

"That, my young customers, is a secret that we not allowed to give away." Teuchi said, interrupting Ayame as she went to tell the secret.

"Why not!" Tenten said in disbelief that they were not allowed to give away such a simple secret.

"Because as a head chef we are not allowed to give away another customers orders because of our Oath of Secrecy. Now if you would please continue your meal as I have to cook some backup chicken for the night time rush." Teuchi said as he looked up at the clock during his speech and began rushing threw it. Quickly the older man raced back into the back to prepare for the coming rush that night. Ayame shook her head and looked at the young girls that sat at the bar.

"I don't know what he is talking about, but Naruto liked a combination of different meats in his ramen." Ayame said with a smile.

"A combination?" Sakura asked in question.

"Yup. He liked a combination of chicken, steak, and pork." Ayame said as shout came from the back room.

"I thought I said we weren't able tell them what Naruto ate!" Teuchi shouted from the back room.

"Oh will you shut it about your Oath of Secrecy! Nobody actually believes you when you say that!" Ayame shouted back as she walked back into the back room.

"But the Oath-!" Teuchi began, only to be interrupted by a loud bash that sounded like a pan hitting someones head.

"Shut up!" Ayame shouted in an annoyed tone. The three girls looked at each other and snickered at Teuchi's unfortunate position, but the snickering slowly died away as the girls looked down at their respective bowls in silence. Sakura sighed as she picked up her chopsticks and was the first to brake them in two.

"I guess we all win the bet and get to keep our food." Sakura said as she looked over at the other two girls.

"I guess you're right. Lets dig in!" Tenten shouted as the other two kunoichi broke apart their own set of chopsticks and began digging into their meals. The three girls shot threw their meals so fast that even Naruto would have been proud at the speed they produced. After the meal the girls began talking about how their training has been progressing over the past few months. Sakura has found that learning how to use Tsunade's furious chakra infused punches has been a lot easier then expected. Simply charge chakra into a tiny point at the tip of her fist and boom! The ground quakes under her power, but healing has been harder then expected. At the beginning of Sakura's training Sakura thought that healing would be her strong suit, not chakra precision. Although Sakura has yet to 'master' the technique, Sakura has been quickly learning the strings of the technique.

Ino has yet to officially say what she has been interested in learning, but her father, Inoichi, has been training her extensively in their clans special techniques. While she has been having trouble learning them to the extent of her father, Ino has also been improving at a fast rate like her fellow kunoichi.

Tenten, like the others, has been improving on past techniques that has seen their fare share of disappointments. Over the past few months Tenten has found flaws in her jutsu that went unseen by her and her teammates before entering the Chunin Exams. After a few months of honing her skill set she has improved on her most famous move, the Twin Rising Dragons.

"Wow! You finally found the flaw in your jutsu?" Ino said with excitement over her friends completion of her jutsu.

"Yup! It took me a few months, but I finally got it down." Tenten said with a smile that brimmed with much pride.

"I wonder what Naruto and Sasuke has been learning all this time?" Sakura asked off handedly. The two girls looked over at Sakura, who was in deep concentration. Of course Sakura would be thinking of her two lost teammates, why wouldn't she be? When Sasuke and Naruto left, the two shinobi were much more powerful then their female counterpart and Sakura had to rely on Sasuke or Naruto to complete the missions that they where sent on. This was something Tenten did not like and immediately talked Sakura into finding someone to train her.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure Sasuke has been learning precision jutsu while Naruto has been learning jutsu that would do as much damage as possible on a larger scale." Ino said.

"I don't know about that, Ino." Tenten said.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Naruto has always been one for bright and flashy jutsu that would get him noticed." Ino said.

"But from what Gai-sensei, Neji, and Lee have been telling me from their spar they had before Naruto left, his style has completely changed. It has turned from sudden outbursts to precision and guessing his opponents next move." Tenten said.

"Now that you think about it, that kind of coincides with his personality change that he had since he got back from trying to save Sasuke." Sakura said with a sad expression on her face. The two other girls looked at each other with a grim expression on both of their faces.

"Girls!" A voice shouted from behind them. The three girls turned to see a thin young kunoichi standing behind them.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Tenten shouted as the three girls stood from their stools and walked over to the red eyed Jonin.

"Hey Tenten. Have you seen Hinata anywhere? We need to get moving because we have a mission now!" Kurenai shouted in a rushed tone.

"Yeah, she left with some of the other Hyuuga on a family affair. Why, what's going on?" Tenten asked.

"Look, I'll have to tell you while we're on the way, but we need to find two others and head out now!" Kurenai said in rushed panic.

"We'll help you!" Sakura volunteered. Ino nodding in an affirmative notion.

"Really? Well that's great! Lets get moving now!" Kurenai said as she turned and ran down the street. The three girls looked at each other before quickly following their sudden mission leader.

"Kurenai-sensei! Please, tell us what's going on!" Sakura shouted as they struggled to keep up with their sensei.

"The city of Kilotic has went black and they are sending us to help three ANBU and Kakashi to scout the situation. Since we are running extremely low on man power at the moment I was asked to take a makeshift Genin team along with me. This will be a simple recon mission, nothing to worry about." Kurenai said.

"What about supplies?" Tenten said as they were soon on the roofs of the buildings that lined one of the several streets that entangled the village that was their home.

"We'll get supplies on the way! We just need to get moving now!" Kurenai shouted as they landed in front of the gate where a guard looked up at the group.

"The four of us are leaving for a mission. Let the Hokage-sama know who are with me. Now lets go. We need to keep moving." Kurenai said as the four shot off into the horizon. The guard looked confused, but soon shrugged at he wrote the four kunoichi's names and stored it away. This would let the parents of the three younger kunoichi know where their daughters are when they don't return tonight. This will also let the Hokage know who Kurenai choose to take with her on the mission she assigned her.

"Exactly how far away is Kilotic anyway?" Ino asked as they rushed down the path heading towards the south end of the country.

"About a three days journey." Kurenai said, getting three collective sighs in return. This was going to be a long trip.

**XxXxX**

Training. That was all Naruto could think about as he flowed his chakra in and throughout his body with several large rocks floating around him in a telekinetic orbit around Naruto. Naruto was sitting on the cliff that looked out over the ravaged city below with his eyes closed and his helmet off to his side. Again, for the umpteenth time, Naruto flowed chakra to his eyes and again he was surprised by the outcome. The Second Sight that his helmet once provided to him was activated without his helmet on. Naruto opened his eyes, but, unknown to Naruto, his eyes held an inhuman blue that filled his entire eye with the strange glowing color.

'How is this happening?' Naruto thought to himself as he concentrated on his hand as he lifted it up in front of him. His eyes quickly read the object that was Naruto's hand and the information was quickly read to him in his mind. 'What is going on? My scanning ability... I can use it as if it's a doujutsu. I knew my Second Sight would be a vital part in my new technique, but be able to use it without my helmet... interesting. I may be able to use this to-. Wait, they are here.'

Naruto stood from his sitting position before three figures appeared in the clearing behind him.

The three figures wore different masks, but identical uniforms. The masks where a Lion, Boar, and an Eagle.

"Who are you?" The ANBU with the Lion mask asked.

"You are ANBU, correct? You certainly did make good timing as it only took you sixty nine hours to get here. Did you ever stop for a break?" Naruto asked as he lifted his hood over his head and turned towards three tan cloaked ninja. The ANBU were unable to see the eyes of the person in front of them as the area from the bridge of his nose and up was covered in darkness.

"We'll ask you again. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Lion asked. Naruto shrugged and looked up into the sky to see a red star high above them with the setting sun in the west.

'70% charge complete, Creator.' Light transmitted to Naruto, but said message was heard in Naruto's head.

'The charging of my ship is taking too long. We need more power conduits rebuilt if I want to be able to fire a blast that won't take three days to charge up.' Naruto thought.

"Is that smoke?" The one with the Eagle mask asked. The voice was more feminine then a mans voice, leading Naruto to believe that the one baring the Eagle mask was indeed a female. As the ANBU wearing the Eagle mask began walking forward towards the edge of the cliff Naruto's hands began glow the same inhumanly blue that his eyes where glowing a moment ago. Eagle and the other ANBU quickly sensed the danger and jumped back towards a tighter, more defensive, formation, but Naruto ended up pointing his arm and hand behind him. Suddenly a enormous blue wall appeared behind him and then, just as swiftly as it appeared, disappeared. No more smoke was seen behind the invisible wall that once gave worried eyes to the Leaf ninja.

"What was that?" Boar shouted in an angry tone. Naruto looked over at the ANBU with the Boar mask and shook his head.

"Is that all you three can do? All you've done so far is ask incompetent questions that I will not reveal. Please tell me what your plan is as I am quite curious what it will be." Naruto said in monotoned voice. Boar began to get angry as his fists clenched as his brain screamed at him to punch this person in the face.

"If you don't move we'll be forced to move you ourselves." Lion said as he reached back for his sword. Eagle soon followed suit while Boar pulled out two kunai.

"I wouldn't underestimate me. I might have a small amount of chakra stored within me, but it's how you use it that counts." Naruto said as his eyes sprang to life in that strange blueish glow.

'Seems the Boar is a muscle brute with little to no ninjutsu training. Eagle seems to be a lightning based user with a strong suit in kenjutsu, Lion is about the same as Eagle except with fire, but I must be wary. They are ANBU after all.' Naruto thought.

"I was hoping to be able to rip apart someone more powerful. Not someone as scrawny as you!" Boar shouted with a laugh before disappearing from view. Naruto quickly ducked underneath a kunai slash that went screeching over his head. Naruto rolled out of the way of the attack and looked up at the ANBU only for Eagle to come in from Naruto's side with an lightning enhanced sword. Naruto quickly extended a blade from his wrist and parried the attack. Naruto took quick note that a chakra infused blade would not be simply sliced threw at mere contact with his more potent energy blade. Naruto then focused his power into his telekinetic abilities and swiftly swiped his hand across her face. A strong invisible punch smashed her in the temple and to Naruto's side. The sudden blow to the ANBU's temple was quick and effective as the female ANBU was out cold on the chilled ground. Naruto found that telekinetic powers were not so hard to obtain once one applied chakra into ones intense concentration to manipulate an object or, in Naruto's recent case, the air itself.

"Your dead little man!" The brutish ANBU shouted as he blindly charged Naruto. Naruto was caught by surprise at the new fast pace of the large ANBU as said ninja smashed Naruto into a near by tree. A glowing shield covered Naruto as the ANBU eased off Naruto, letting him drop to the ground. Naruto looked up at Boar, only to see a kunai being brought down onto him. Naruto quickly brought his own hidden blade and sliced strait threw the kunai. Quickly following up the ANBU's surprise Naruto jumped up and shoved his over blade into the brutes stomach. Boar stumbled back as he held his wound in shock.

"You mother fucker! I'll kill you for that!" Boar shouted as he shot his remaining kunai at Naruto who shakily dodged the attack as it rocketed threw the tree behind him. Naruto was still a little shaky from his blow against the tree a few seconds earlier, but still managed to dodge nonetheless. Boar was on Naruto in a hot second as Boar picked Naruto up by the collar and brought him closer to his face. Boars breath smelled like a combination of rotten fish and the garbage out in the back of an old alley that has been decaying over the past few years.

"Hmm... you remind me of someone, but who." Boar said into Naruto's face. Naruto grinned as he smashed his hands against the sides of the ANBU's temples. This was no normal strike that would still force even the strongest man to shoot back in pain. Naruto shot two blasts of telekinetic power into the mans brain and, in essence, blacked out the brute that would not go down by conventional means. The ANBU fell backwards with his eyes lifted into the back of his head while, at the same time, dropping Naruto from his deadly grip.

After Naruto stood and brushed himself off, Naruto questionably looked over at the only remaining ANBU. Something was off and the only remaining ANBU knew that Naruto sensed it.

"You question why those ANBU that you fought where easy to bring down." Lion said with a perk in his voice. "Well, those 'ANBU' weren't ANBU at all. Those were simply Chunin disguised as ANBU."

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked as he stood and reconfigured his eyes onto the remaining ninja. Naruto insistently noticed the vast amount of experience that surrounded his demeanor. Naruto may not be able to know the exact amount of chakra like someone from the Hyuuga clan, but Naruto can accurately guess.

The ANBU shrugged at the question. As if he didn't even care for the lives of the ones that were knocked out earlier.

"We are running low on manpower and we needed a way to show other nations that we are still strong by sending out veteran ninja, but enough about us. Tell me what you have been up to, Naruto." Lion said. This caught Naruto off guard. How did he figure out so fast?

"How did you know?" Naruto asked as he straitened himself and looked the ANBU up and down. Lion began to laugh at the question and continued his rolling laughter until he began to have trouble breathing. As Lion calmed down he wiped away a fake tear on his mask.

"You really don't know who I am, do you?" Lion said. Naruto simply stared back at the man with his glowing blue eyes burning into the mans soul. This was enough of an answer to get Lion onto another laughing spree. "You can't be serious! I spent all that time looking over you and you still don't know who I am!"

Naruto was confused. 'Looking over you?' What was this crazy ANBU talking about? As the crazed ANBU stopped his laughter once more, Lion decided it was fit to tell the young jinchuriki what he was talking about.

"You see, when you were a child back in the village the Hokage assigned special squads of ANBU to keep an eye on you and keep you safe. We where called Blanket Squads and we kept secret watch over you at all times. Hidden in the shadows we stalked you to keep you safe from any drunken citizen or angry mob that came your way." Lion explained.

"Two questions. One, you guys hardly did your job as I was chased by mobs and beaten by drunken people all the time. Two, how am I supposed to remember you when you guys were always in the shadows?" Naruto asked. Lion shook his head in dismay.

"Because there were times where we stopped the crowds from following you. We would lead them off into a different direction with a genjutsu, but the beatings? Well... lets just say some ANBU weren't so fond you. The only ANBU that actually saved you from any trouble was Raven and Wolf, but Raven is long gone and Wolf left the ANBU and became a Jonin. As for remembering me? I took a kunai knife to the chest for you and from what you're telling me, you never noticed it." Lion said as he shook his head in disappointment. "But hey, what can I say? If you did remember me then I would have made your death quick and painless, but since you didn't..."

Lion didn't have to finish his sentence as Naruto knew exactly what the ANBU meant. Lion swiftly pulled out his katana and as soon as it was out fire engulfed the blade in an magnificent show of brute power and delicate handling.

"So tell me why would you want to kill me?" Naruto asked as his eyes analyzed the blades power and depth. It was just a simple katana with fire elemental chakra being coursed threw it.

"You see, you have an enormous bounty on your head. Even for a Genin you are one of the most highly sought after missing-ninja around!" Lion exclaimed as Naruto felt a grin come over Lions face, even underneath the mask. "And I got my first shot at taking your head back to Kohona!"

Lion then disappeared into a blur of pure speed. Naruto was barely able to read Lions movements before quickly jumping to the side as Lion appeared behind him and swung his sword at Naruto from a distance. A blade of pure fire was sent vertically at were Naruto once was. Naruto then barely dodged another strike from a different angle. Then another and another.

'This is getting us nowhere. I can keep dodging like this,but these close calls will eventually drain my shield away!' Naruto thought as Lion was getting just as agitated as Naruto, who was simply dodging all of his attacks.

"Is that all you know how to do? Dodge and telekinesis?" Lion shouted as he shot another strike at Naruto. Naruto was unable to dodge this and lifted his arm to protect himself. The fire blade smashed into his shield as it wrapped around Naruto's arm and into the rest of his body. Naruto's shield held, but was severely weakened from the attacks brought upon earlier. But Naruto had no time to rest as Lion was preparing another strike that was much more powerful.

'Damn it! Even if I do have complete control of my chakra I don't have the speed to dodge all of the attacks that are brought down upon me by an ANBU. This is bad.' Naruto thought as the fire that engulfed Lions sword grew steadily larger as time went by.

"You will die Naruto Uzumaki! **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!" Lion shouted, but just Lion finished his jutsu, Naruto quickly built up an extremely bright light in his hand and released it right when Lion was in the middle of casting his jutsu. Naruto never called out the name of his jutsu, but figured it was just best to name it **Uchikesu**. Lion followed threw with his jutsu, but then noticed that his jutsu was gone. All the chakra that was spent conjuring up the jutsu dissipated into the air around him. Lion looked at his sword and still saw the fire flickering at its normal rate as it did before he used his jutsu. 'All that chakra... what happened?'

Lion looked down at Naruto to see said Forerunners blades retracted from underneath his wrists in anticipation. Lion growled as he dashed towards Naruto, flaming sword in hand. Lion may not know what happened to his jutsu, but he would not lose to such a young kid!

The two men clashed as one tried to overpower the other. Naruto's hands began to glow blue as Lions sword turned red with fire influenced chakra. Lion looked into Naruto's glowing blue eyes as they pushed against each other. Lion used to like Naruto, idolized him as a hero, but when left and abandoned them... his thoughts changed. As most of the ninja and civilian population of Kohona, they saw Naruto as a traitor and deserved to be killed for treason. As shallow as Kohona was, they thought that Sasuke should be taken back in and sheltered from any outside forces that wished to control him, but in that case, wouldn't they be contradicting themselves?

Lion's mask soon was thrown off into the distance as Naruto came face to face with opponent. Lion had brown hair and green eyes as he looked at Naruto with such hatred and betrayal, Naruto was about to give up, but Lion knew better and grinned at Naruto as the two continued their push for opportunity. Behind Naruto another Lion appeared.

'A shadow clone?' Naruto thought as a leg was crushed into what remained of Naruto's shield. Naruto was sent flying into a tree where Naruto slid to the ground and his hood slid off the top of his head. Lion slowly walked over to the downed ninja.

"You are a tough one, Naruto. Even though your chakra was not at the hight of what I believed that you would have by now, you still made due. You where a worthy opponent and your head will be perfect for my wall as my most prized kill." Lion said as he stood in front of Naruto and as he lifted his sword, Naruto felt a ting of something outside his own realm of thought. Naruto was beginning to panic. Hundreds of plans flew threw his head, only for each to end up with the same result. Naruto was out of options as he looked up into Lions eyes as said ANBU brought down the gauntlet. But as the blade was brought down upon him, thoughts streamed into his mind. Naruto's mind became a crash course for so many different thoughts and as he stumbled to try and organize the thoughts streaming into his head, everything froze.

**XxXxX**

Kakashi swiftly jumped from limb to limb, quickly dashing threw the forest towards his destination. Kakashi knew that two of the so called 'ANBU' were Chunin in disguise as well as Lion's lust for money, but as Kakashi neared the cliff that sat comfortably above the bustling harbor town below Kakashi felt two chakra's clash against one another in a ferocity that matched no other. One was filled with the fire and rage that screamed fire elemental chakra, but the other was different. Unlike any Kakashi has felt before. The seconds was filled with an almost metallic chakra that crossed into an almost water filled element. Who could have metallic chakra?

Kakashi burst threw the forest brush and onto the cold ground. The scene surprised Kakashi as he looked around at the burns scattered about the clearing and the two downed Chunin. Finally Kakashi looked over to see Lion standing in a position that looked as if he was about to finish someone off that would be leaning against a tree that stood in front of him, but when Kakashi saw a hooded man looking out over a cliff, Kakashi became suspicious.

"Hello, Kakashi. It certainly has been a while." The hooded man said with his back facing Kakashi. Kakashi was not surprised that the hooded man knew who he was as Kakashi was famous threw out the ninja world.

"Who are you and what has happened here?" Kakashi said as Lion's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slumped to the ground. The hooded man shook his head as he turned towards Kakashi. Glowing blue eyes stared back at Kakashi as said ninja mentally jumped.

"_You will learn my name soon enough, as to what has happened here... it was simply self defense._" The mans voice said inside of Kakashi head.

'Wait, am I hearing things?' Kakashi thought as said man looked deeply into Kakashi's eyes.

"_No. I am telepathically talking to you._" The man said as drool began to slip out of Lions mouth.

"What did you do to him?" Kakashi demanded out loud. Kakashi felt insecure talking inside of his own mind and sought to bring the conversation out into the open.

"This man tried to kill me, so I wiped his mind of any... useless thoughts." The man said. Kakashi walked over to Lion and inspected him. "You see, I had no idea I had this power until I was on the verge of death, but thanks to that man there I discovered my new found power."

Kakashi shook his head as he stood up and looked at the hooded figures back that stood by the cliffs edge looking out over the sea below.

"You still haven't told me your name." Kakashi said, but Kakashi quickly jumped backwards as Lion swiftly stood and sent a flaming strike hurtling towards Kakashi. Kakashi dodged the attack and pulled out a kunai at the same time. Lion looked at Kakashi and grinned.

"My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." Lion said as Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked over at the hooded man who was looking back over his shoulder with those glowing eyes of his. Eyes that felt like he was reading ever thought that passed threw his mind. Eyes that felt like Naruto was touching, searching, every secret thought and past experience that Kakashi worked so hard to lock away so long ago.

**XxXxX**

A/N: Ok guys I am so sorry for the extremely long wait, but life has seriously punched me in the face and I have had absolutely no extra time on my hands. Between school, work, the gym, and other activities I have had no time to write this and I'm so sorry that I have neglecting this story for so long. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter has I have high expectations for this story.

Please also note that this is not a super powerful Naruto story. Please continue reading and you'll see what I mean in the near future.

Well here you guys go and I thanks for anyone for the kind reviews as that's honestly the reason why I enjoy writing these stories. Hope you guys don't punch me to hard as it has been a while since I've written a chapter.

Also here's a shout out to inuboy86 for reminding me that I still have a story to write!


	4. Killing to Protect Another

**XxXxX**

Kakashi was shocked at what Lion just said. Naruto? What was he doing here? Kakashi lowered his kunai in shock as he stared at his former student.

"Na-Naruto?" Kakashi said with his only visible eye widened. Naruto simply stared back in apathy as all visible emotions showed that Naruto simply didn't care about the condition of Kakashi's shocked state. "Is that truly you?"

Naruto looked back out towards the sea as Kakashi gripped his kunai harder at Naruto's response, or, lack there of. Kakashi knew Naruto hurt these ninja for a reason, but if Naruto was not going to tell him the reason then he had no choice. Kakashi's grip on the kunai he was holding loosened as Lion lowered his flaming sword slightly.

"Naruto. Is this your doing?" Kakashi asked. Naruto continued to leave his back turned towards Kakashi as silence ensued the clearing. Kakashi stared at the back of Naruto's hooded head as millions of thoughts ran threw Kakashi's mind. Why has Naruto returned? Why did he attack the ninja before him? Is he the reason the city went black? Why is Lion under the control of Naruto and is answering all of said missing-nin's questions and how was Lion defeated so easily by Naruto?

Kakashi looked at Lion in question, but to Kakashi's surprise Lions eyes held nothing. Emotionless eyes bore holes into Kakashi's being as the elite ANBU stared unblinkingly at Kakashi.

Naruto's silence gave Kakashi the answer to his question as Kakashi struggled with the realization that Naruto could be the reason why a city would stop all communication to everyone, near or far.

"I see. So that's how it's going to happen. Naruto, please turn yourself in. I don't wish to fight you." Kakashi said as he lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan eye. Naruto stayed silent as Lion positioned himself between Kakashi and Naruto.

'Looks like I'm going to have to fight Lion before getting to Naruto. This will be just like old times, Lion.' Kakashi thought as Kakashi clashed blades with mind controlled ANBU.

Naruto was having trouble of his own at the moment as he controlled the ANBU behind him. The trouble area was trying to control more then one mind at once. Naruto lucked out when he took control of Lions mind as Lion was unprepared for a mental attack and thus gave Naruto the element of surprise. The same goes for his telekinesis when he used his new found ability to knock out the two Chunin. Naruto just learned this new ability and was trying to extend his reach to Kakashi before said Jonin could raise a shield to stop him.

Naruto was assuming that Kakashi was taught some type of anti-mind reading technique from the Yamanaka Clan for if he was ever captured by an enemy he would some sort of defense against any mind reading shinobi. Naruto was also trying to steady the flow of information that his clones were dispersing as they fought against the Flood in the city below. It was true, Naruto has been fighting the Flood inside the city for the past few days, using a mass amount of clones in hopes of saving the little amount of civilians that are left. Still, Naruto was only able to save a mere thirty seven people from the grip of the flood and said people are now far away from the city. This may not seem like a lot, but to the families he did save, it meant the world to them and that's all Naruto truly cared about.

As Naruto worked on controlling the ANBU and the clones that fought in the city below, a faint voice appeared in Naruto's head.

"_Creator, we have a slight problem. We are going to have divert even more of your suits personal power supply away as well as thousands of sentinels if you ever hope to fire in the next few hours_." Light said threw his connector. Naruto was now agitated. Not only did Naruto's shield take another hit, but thousands of sentinels that where working to fix the power cores where shut down for the time being.

"_Fine, leave me some power to put into my shield. I may need that defense later if my pawn falls._" Naruto replied as he looked over towards the battle. Lion was holding his ground, but Kakashi had the upper hand and Naruto knew it. Kakashi was a powerful shinobi and Naruto knew that over time Kakashi would eventually win. So, Naruto needed to quickly push as much chakra into an assault onto Kakashi's mind while also holding onto Lion's at the same time. The painful migraine seemed to flow on like a never ending river as an invisible beam, that only one with mind reading powers could see, extended out towards Kakashi.

"Lion! Wake up! What ever Naruto has done to you, you can fight it!" Kakashi shouted at his fellow ninja. Kakashi's pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears as Lion slung another fire slash towards Kakashi. Said ninja nimbly dodged the strike as something weird happened.

Something like a feather began to tickle on the side of Kakashi's head until what felt like a worm began to wiggle inside Kakashi's skull.

'What is this...' Kakashi thought as he pressed his hand against the spot that the 'worm' entered. Suddenly something racked his brain and Kakashi knew what was happening. 'Wait, this is...!'

It was too late. Kakashi gave Naruto to much time and now Kakashi was paying for it. The 'worm' that embedded itself inside of Kakashi's head seemed to burst out into a million different directions as thoughts not his own began to appear at the forefront of his mind. Kakashi fell to one knee as the overwhelming flood of thoughts entered his brain. Pain began to throb at the very notion of a thought being conjured up by himself and Kakashi knew that Naruto was the cause of this pain, but at the same time Kakashi knew that Naruto reading all of his thoughts, past experiences, and learnings that really got to him.

Naruto learned a lot from the brief moments that he was in Kakashi's mind. While Naruto scanned threw Kakashi's brain, Naruto learned that his theory on chakra was not completely false, but was simply a thing called 'Nature Chakra'. Naruto was enjoying this wealth of information as blanks in how the chakra system worked where quickly filled. Naruto now completely understood, but Naruto knew that more was needed to be learned. Information that Kakashi didn't know left blanks on why Naruto was unable to access his chakra on a different planet. Naruto decided he would seek these answers at a different time as Kakashi began to fight back against Naruto's control.

Pain unlike any other flooded Kakashi's mind as secret information was scanned and copied by the powerful mind reader. Kakashi could honestly admit that this battle was one of the toughest he has ever fought, but the way Kakashi fought back was extremely simple. All Kakashi had to do was think, but if Kakashi thought of anything a searing pain would envelope his entire mind and Kakashi's mind would almost want to give up. This was troublesome as his mind just wanted to die and become a servant to the one that was torturing it. To become completely brain dead and let Naruto have complete control, but Kakashi wouldn't let that happen.

Kakashi needed to think, to keep a leverage on what was reality and what was fake. So, Kakashi thought of his friends and the other ninja back home. Pain began to push against Kakashi's thoughts at the increase of brain activity within Kakashi's mind. Kakashi looked up at Naruto who was simply staring back at him with those glowing blue eyes as sweat was seen dripping from Naruto's chin. Naruto was a having a hard time as well. Lion was now laying on the ground, passed out as Naruto most likely pulled most of his chakra out from Lion and into Kakashi, but Kakashi knew he was gaining the upper hand. The pain began to die away and the 'worm' that Kakashi felt a while ago was gone. Naruto fell to his knees as Kakashi picked himself up off the ground. Fatigued, but still able to fight, Kakashi walked up to Naruto.

"You will come back to Kohona with me and stand trail for what you have done." Kakashi said as Naruto never replied. Naruto looked at the ground as four ninja appeared into the clearing behind Kakashi.

"Kurenai, Ino. Take Naruto back to Kohona. Sakura, Tenten, tend to the wounded." Kakashi ordered.

"Yes." All four of the female ninja replied unquestionably. While Kurenai and Ino took Naruto off and Sakura and Tenten worried about the wounded, Kakashi walked over to the edge of the cliff that overlooked Kilotic, but to his surprise nothing looked wrong.

"Be right back." Kakashi said as he jumped off the cliff, surprising the two remaining girls. As Kakashi ran down the side of the cliff, Kakashi noticed that nobody was out on the street. Once Kakashi reached the town below, Kakashi's earlier thought was confirmed. Where was everyone? It looked as if everyone simply got up and left. Kakashi was baffled as he looked in all the windows, only to see nothing. Then Kakashi saw something at the end of the street. The persons back was turned towards Kakashi and the said person was wearing a grey cloak, much like...

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted as the familiar cloaked man turned his head to show those familiar glowing eyes. Naruto then looked back down the street before dashing down a side alley. "Naruto wait! How did you escape?"

Kakashi quickly gave chase to Naruto as the two ninja slipped threw alley to alley, roof to roof, until Naruto stopped at the edge of a roof that over looked a large courtyard. Kakashi then tackled Naruto off the two story building and into the street below. After landing harshly, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's cloak.

"What did you do to the people of this city? How did you get here? Where the fuck did you go! What happened to you!" Kakashi shouted as he looked into Naruto's glowing blue eyes. Naruto said nothing in response as the Jonin lifted his fist and slammed it into Naruto's face. Blood shot from Naruto's mouth and onto the the street, but to Kakashi's surprise, the blood mixed with a pool that was already there. Kakashi then looked up and to his horror, Naruto's blood was no the only ones staining the ground. Thousands upon thousands of people lay, piled up into an enormous mountain of blood and death. Kakashi's eyes widened in disbelief as his body went numb. Naruto then gently stood from his position underneath Kakashi as the hood that once covered the top of his head fell behind Naruto.

Was this what Naruto did to the people of this city? Massacred them? Men, women, children, babies, all where piled up in this decaying mound of flesh and bone. After a few moments of silence, Kakashi voice all his questions into one word.

"Why?" Kakashi asked as Naruto looked at the dead that filled the courtyard then back to Kakashi and to Kakashi pure astonishment Naruto said.

"To test the limits of my power."

Then, Kakashi snapped. Lightning spewed from Kakashi's hand as anger filled up Kakashi's being. Pure hatred. That was all that was felt as the Chidori charged up in Kakashi's hand.

"I'll fucking kill you for what you did!" Kakashi shouted in pure anger as his Sharingan morphed into a strange shape. Naruto simply stared back with those calm, uncaring blue eyes as Kakashi jumped to his feet and rammed the Chidori into Naruto's chest. It was silent for a moment as the electricity died down from Kakashi's attack. Blood began to run down Kakashi's arm as his once blue shirt turned dark and damp from the blood of Naruto's wound.

"Do you feel better?" Naruto asked. Kakashi said nothing as blood began to drip out from the corners of Naruto's mouth. More silence followed as Kakashi began to think on what he just did.

"Does your revenge taste sweet?"

Kakashi looked into Naruto's eyes, but to his surprise the glowing blue that once met Kakashi before was replaced by Naruto's normal, ocean blue, eyes.

"Is it all that you wanted it to be? Does my death make all the deaths here in this courtyard justified for you?"

Kakashi looked away as he remembered the words that he spoke to Sasuke before he left to the teachings of Orochimaru. Then, everything came crashing down onto Kakashi as he realized he just killed his own student. Tears began to fall from Kakashi's eyes as his former student looked back up at Kakashi with weakened eyes.

"I hope you're happy now that I'm just another body in the pile of corpses." Naruto said.

"But, you're the one-." Kakashi started as he tried to justify his killing, but Naruto cut him off.

"No. I'm not the one who killed all these people. I'm the one who tried to save them." Naruto said as he slowly slid off Kakashi arm and onto the ground. Kakashi looked at Naruto's body with his mouth wide open and tears falling from eyes.

'Then if you didn't kill them, then who did?' Kakashi thought as his mind began to feel like it was being sucked threw a straw. Kakashi looked up into the air, but when he looked back down a yellowish green creature with tentacles coming out from the bottom of it jumped at Kakashi's face as quickly as any Shinobi he has seen before. But just as the creature was about to clamp onto Kakashi's face, Kakashi's mind was quickly sucked threw the 'straw' and he was gone from that world.

**XxXxX**

Kakashi swiftly jumped up from his prone position as the image that scared him from his mind shot him up into a standing position. Kakashi then scanned the area for any danger and to his surprise, Naruto was still standing in the same place as he was before. Standing on the cliffs edge, starring out into the endless sea. Lion lay on the ground, a bit away from Kakashi, drooling on the ground with blank eyes. The other two Chunin are still knocked out and the reinforcements Kakashi was promised have yet to arrive, but the most puzzling thing was, how was Naruto able to use a genjutsu on him? The Sharingan makes it virtually impossible for anyone to use a genjutsu on him. Then how did...

"Unlike most genjutsu that tricks your senses from the outside, I went into your brain and forced visions into your head. Making you believe what you saw. Not even your 'amazing' Sharingan could counter that I'm afraid." Naruto said as he turned towards Kakashi. Kakashi shook his head as he poured chakra into the defense of his mind.

"I won't let you do that again, you know that, right?" Kakashi said as, for the first time in a long time, Naruto grinned.

"I know." Naruto said as his left hand began to glow a light blue. A slim bubble like shell surrounded Naruto's hand as a single blade protruded from it. "But since I'm running low on chakra, I'll have to rely on something else."

Kakashi then pulled out another kunai as he prepared for the strike. Naruto slowly walked towards Kakashi, but then, as Naruto walked towards Kakashi, Naruto simply disappeared. Kakashi looked around him as he tried to sense for the young Forerunner, but there was nothing. Suddenly a hole appeared as an invisible blade pierced Kakashi's heart from behind. Slowly Naruto reappeared into the world with his blade threw Kakashi's heart, but as the clone began to fade, Naruto had a blue ball charging up in his right and.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Naruto asked out loud as he pulled up his arm and pointed it towards a tree to his side. An enormous blue blast erupted from the blue ball of energy as it smashed against the tree, ripping threw it and everything that might lay behind it. Once the blast stopped, Kakashi was seen on the ground, looking up at the trees that where destroyed, shocked at the things Naruto has displayed.

"Even with no chakra left I will not let you enter that city!" Naruto shouted as Kakashi stood and looked at Naruto in surprise. What was Naruto talking about? But Kakashi would never be able to ask Naruto his question as Kakashi saw that a genjutsu was being laid over Naruto.

"You're mine now." A familiar voice said as Naruto was suddenly stuck to a tree. Kurenai then began to emerge from said tree with a kunai to Naruto's throat. "How does it feel being so helpless?"

"I fear, that a weak little genjutsu like that will not defeat me." Naruto said quietly as the tree then was caught on fire with Kurenai still fused to it.

"Wait! I can't release myself from it!" Kurenai shouted as the fire crept closer to her.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Another voice shouted as at least seven different types of weapons shot out from the trees. Naruto looked at the weapons and quickly sliced threw all of them with his blade. Then, right after the assortment of weapons hit, a pink haired girl shot out of the clearing with a chakra enhanced punch reeled back and prepared to strike.

"Get away from her!" Sakura shouted in anger as Naruto swiftly jumped backwards just as the punch was smashed into the ground, cracking the ground in its wake. Tenten and Ino soon appeared next to the 'trapped' sensei as her genjutsu was reversed on her by Naruto. Naruto's chakra supply was close to being completely spent at this point. Naruto had to use his jutsu defensively as well as his suits energy now that even more enemies appeared into the mix. Naruto cursed the Flood for destroying most of the power plants before the end of the war as now his shield is a eighth of what they normally are.

After the three Genin released Kurenai from the genjutsu, the four looked to Naruto.

"Kakashi! Are you all right?" Kurenai shouted as Kakashi lifted himself and brushed himself off. After slowly walking over to the group, Kakashi decided to answer.

"Yes, I'm fine." Kakashi said calmly as he looked over to Naruto. Naruto only looked back as Kakashi's eyes reflected that of question rather than blind hatred that filled his being just moments ago.

"Who is he?" Kurenai asked quietly. Kakashi said nothing for a moment before thinking of a good answer. Kakashi knew that if he revealed that it was Naruto that the Genin would be morally weakened and Kakashi could not let that happen.

"He is the reason the city went black." Kakashi replied.

"I see. And the others?" Kurenai asked, referring to the knocked out ANBU and Chunin.

"Knocked out I believe, but I'm not certain." Kakashi replied.

"Any information on the enemies battle tactics?" Kurenai asked.

"A professional mindreader and mind sculptor. He holds the power to assault and take over ones mind so be careful. Also he has other powers that are yet unknown so he is sure to hold other wild cards up his sleeve." Kakashi explained as Naruto patiently waited.

"_Five minutes remaining, Creator_." Light said. Naruto mentally nodded as he let the ninja talk to their hearts content.

"All right everyone, stick to the plan! Go!" Kakashi shouted. Just as the Jonin shouted those words, Sakura and Tenten dashed towards Naruto, Sakura in front and Tenten in back.

'This formation... there has to be something else.' Naruto thought as Tenten jumped up from behind Sakura and pulled out her two scrolls.

"**Twin Rising Dragons**!" Tenten shouted, but as she began to pushing chakra into her scrolls, she was interrupted by a bright flash of light.

"**Uchikesu**!" Naruto shouted as the light flashed anyone who looked towards Naruto. The chakra that Tenten had pushed into the two scrolls were immediately cut from her hands. All chakra that was used on her jutsu disappeared and her jutsu was canceled, but this didn't stop Sakura from charging her way towards Naruto with chakra infused fist. Naruto lifted his sword to block the attack, but to his surprise Sakura popped into a puff of smoke. Naruto raised an eyebrow in question, but then, just as quickly as the clone disappeared from this world, a punch was landed on the side of Naruto's face. But the punch smashed into his invisible shield that surround his being. Naruto was sent skidding across the ground until he came to a stop. Kurenai then appeared next to Naruto with a kunai ready to puncture Naruto's side, but Naruto sent a slash towards her as quickly as he could. Kurenai lifted her own blade to block it, but the blue glowing blade that Naruto wielded simply sliced strait threw. Kurenai had barely enough time to duck under the slash and roll away before Kakashi appeared in front of Naruto with a Chidori charged and ready.

"**Chidori**!" Kakashi shouted as he shot his jutsu towards Naruto. Naruto grinned and began to accumulate chakra in a spinning ball into his own hands before finally shouting.

"**Rasengan**!"

The observers looked at the jutsu and then realized something. The only people to have ever learned how to use that jutsu was Jiraiya, the Fourth, and Naruto. And since Jiraiya was not that small and the Fourth was dead, that only left...

"Naruto...?" Sakura said softly as she watched as Kakashi and the hooded, glowing eyed, man clashed their jutsu together.

Naruto looked at Kakashi as he felt the last of his chakra begin to be drown up into his jutsu.

'No! I can't let them enter the city! I won't let them... I must... protect...' Naruto thought as he appeared in a large room with water up to his ankles. Naruto knew where he was as he walked closer to the extremely large cage with the word 'seal' on it.

'Kyuubi. Would you mind lending me some of your chakra?' Naruto asked politely as the great beast behind the cage stirred.

'You petty little mortal. Do you think you can just order me, the great and powerful nine tailed fox, around like I'm some little toy of yours?' An enormous voice asked from behind the bars. Slowly Naruto watched as an enormous fox walked into view. 'Well you are wrong.'

'Yes. Now either you you lend me some of your chakra or we both die.' Naruto said. His blue eyes looked into the very soul of the Kyuubi as all that happened over the course of Naruto leaving the planet was an enormous haze. The Kyuubi looked at Naruto with an almost smudged look on his face .

'Sure, I'll lend you some chakra, but you'll have to do something in return.' Naruto didn't like the way this was going. What could the Kyuubi want from Naruto?

'What?'

'I want to leave this body of yours and be set free.' Kyuubi said with a grin, but Naruto shook his head as a smile came to his face.

'Deal. Now lend me your power and let free.' Naruto said. The Kyuubi was rather surprised by this and was questioning his own hearing. Did Naruto just say what he thought he just said.

'Yes, here you go.' The Kyuubi said as he fulfilled his part of the deal. Red chakra began to fill Naruto's being as his chakra reserves began to refill themselves.

On the outside, the time that passed was only a few seconds, but when Kakashi saw a red aura glow around Naruto, Kakashi began to worry.

'The Kyuubi... is it taking over?' Kakashi thought as the Rasengan began to glow a crimson red. Slowly Naruto began to push back Kakashi as more chakra flowed into his system. Blasts of chakra shot out from the clashing jutsu as the chakra that was exerted from the two jutsu was nothing short of amazing, but Naruto knew better then to rely on just this one attack. Even if he did win there would still be four more ninja to deal with and he didn't have the time for that.

So, Naruto began to charge up his mental assault on the other four ninja that where watching, but to Naruto's surprise Ino had put a shield up around the four ninja that where watching. Naruto grinned as he began to attack the mental barrier that Ino had put up. Ino's eyes shut tightly as Naruto attacked her mental barrier. Sweat began to appear on her brow as the assault began to pick up more momentum.

'_Ino. Do you really think a small barrier such as this can stop me?_' Naruto said telepathically to Ino. Ino was surprised that Naruto was able to talk to her, but then quickly regained focus as holes began to appear in her barrier.

'_I was surprised that you have the ability to set up a broad defense such as this, but even then you are spread too thin. Your defense will fall and all of your secrets will become mine._' Naruto said as more holes began to open themselves to the seemingly ever washing tide that was Naruto's attack. Pain began to explode inside Ino's mind as she desperately tried to regain her barrier, but it was too late. Naruto has punctured threw and all she could do was watch as the 'invisible' line hit her in the face.

Kakashi's and Naruto's jutsu then exploded from the sheer amount of chakra that was pumped into both of their jutsu's. The two where sent sliding backwards until they came to a stop.

"Naruto! Is that really you?" Sakura shouted as the hooded man looked over to the pink haired girl.

"No." Naruto said as he took off his hood. Sakura and Tenten gasped at the sight of their old friend. "I'm not the same 'Naruto' that you remember, but someone with a higher purpose then 'becoming Hokage'."

"Ino! Ino are you ok?" Kurenai shouted as she ran to Ino's side. Said blonde haired girl was laying on her side, knocked out. "What did you do to her?"

Naruto simply looked at her with an emotionless face and shook his head.

"She set up a mental defense for all of you in hopes of defending you from any mental attacks, but she forgot the most important part of her defense, herself. When Kakashi and I where clashing I attacked, mentally, the weakest part of her defense and now she is lost in pain, trying to push me out of her mind." Naruto said as he looked up into the sky to see a single red star amongst the white ones. The moon was out and shining its glorious light down upon them. The winter breeze gently pressed against all still awake as the cloaks that the Leaf ninja wore swayed in the dark night.

"You'll pay for that you monster!" Kurenai shouted as she disappeared from Ino's side. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the sudden release of anger that Kurenai showed. Don't most Jonin have control over their emotions? Kurenai then appeared in front of Naruto, but only for Naruto have his arm lifted with a purple ball built up into his hand.

"Kurenai! Dodge it!" Kakashi shouted as the recollection of the blast that tore threw his cover earlier swarmed his mind. But, the rage infilled Jonin heard nothing as the purple ball exploded outwards in a wide spray. Kurenai was sent shooting off into the a tree on the other side of the clearing, knocking her out. Naruto looked at the downed Jonin and shook his head in disappointment.

"Jonin are supposed to be one of the most veteran ninja in the village. Why is it when someone gets angry they lose all tactical thought?" Naruto asked out loud. Sakura looked at Kurenai in shock then back to Naruto.

"Naruto... what have you been learning?" Sakura asked as Tenten looked at Naruto in the same fashion.

"Everything." Naruto said as Ino began to stir.

"Ino! Are you alright?" Tenten shouted as Ino looked over at Tenten from her laying position.

"Yes." Ino said before her eyes closed weakly once more. Likely from the intense pain she just endured.

"You released her already?" Kakashi asked.

"She had no information I truly needed and controlling her would only be a waist of chakra." Naruto said as he looked over to the body of Lion. "As for him..."

Kakashi looked over to the ANBU ninja that once 'protected' Naruto. Lion pretended to protect Naruto when he was younger and much more vulnerable, but what Lion actually did was much more sinister then that. Anything under the sun that involved hurting Naruto Lion did for pure pleasure. Not because he held the Kyuubi, but just because Lion was that type of person. He got a kick out of the pain of others and Naruto was just the person he was able get his hands on.

'_Creator. It is ready to fire. Just give the order.' _Light said. Naruto mentally nodded, but then something out of the corner of his eye moved quickly. Naruto turned his head to see what it was, but it was too late.

Eagle, the Chunin that was quickly knocked out earlier, had been staying down until the perfect moment presented itself and now was her chance. Eagle quickly picked up her sword and charged lightning threw it before appearing behind Naruto. The blade was smashed into Naruto back and, to Naruto's dismay, the electricity quickly opened a hole in Naruto's already weakened shield.

"Die demon!" Eagle shouted.

The blade then hit the combat skin that Naruto wore, but the Chunin then poured all her remaining chakra into her attack. The blade finally pierced the suit and even though the sword was not able to pierce the other side of Naruto suit the damage was done. Eagle breathed heavily as only a sliver of her chakra remained in her body. Naruto's eyes where wide from pure shock. The two Genin gasped in terror and Kakahi only watched in dismay. Eagle pulled her blade out of Naruto and blood quickly began to flow out of the wound.

"You..." Naruto said softly before quickly turning around, blue glowing blades extended out from beneath his wrists. "You will pay for what you just did!"

Naruto swiftly smashed the two blades into Eagles mask where her eyes where. Eagle screamed from the pain that ensued her as she fell backwards onto the ground whilst blood flowed from beneath her mask.

"Maybe now you will see the path that you have taken." Naruto said as screams continued to erupt from beneath her mask. Everyone looked at the hole that pierced the combat skin as blood flowed from Naruto cloak. Naruto was now completely irritated from that fact that the Power Stations where not completely rebuilt as his shields, his armor, and everything else ran off of those stations. Naruto's shields where maybe an eighth of what they normally are and the powerful threads that gave him his last line of defense was shredded down due to this. The suits material is not made out of some super material that is indestructible to anything and everything, but is powered by the energy that powers everything that derives under the name of Forerunner. True, some things like small arms aren't powered by these generators, but for the most part everything is interconnected. Now before someone says this was a bad idea for everything to live off of these Power Stations one must understand that at the time they where built there was no need for worry as no war was coming upon them in the near future.

Before the war with the Flood, the Forerunners had little to no weaponry as the race as a whole had an enormous disarmament thousands of years before. The need for weapons had vanished from their species and their sole objective was to help the intelligent species of their galaxy. To guide them from self destruction and continue on their way towards peace.

Naruto's Kyuubi chakra began to heal his wound as he turned and looked at the stunned group of ninja. Naruto was growing annoyed at their stares and quickly charged up a blast telekinetic power. Naruto then blasted it out towards them. The blast didn't hurt anyone, but simply pushed everyone away from him.

"The secrets this town holds must be buried along with it. All of the people of this city where doomed to destruction when the city was built upon this location. I'm sorry, but this city must perish." Naruto said as the blue wall behind him began to shatter before finally breaking. Flames could be seen rising up from behind Naruto and screams could be heard from the city. Death and chaos where the only things the Leaf ninja heard from the city below.

"Naruto... what did you do?" Kakashi asked as Naruto looked at him in question.

"I did nothing to the people of this city." Naruto replied.

"Then what do you call that!" Sakura shouted as tears began to build up in her eyes. She was pointing behind Naruto and towards the city that only returned them with the sound of pain and terror. Naruto sighed as he looked up into the sky and towards the red speck above.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you everything that has happened here. Light, lets finish this." Naruto said to the Leafs confusion, but their answer soon came when an enormous red beam appeared behind Naruto and into the city beyond. A bright light blinded all who looked towards it and at the same time an intense heat washed over them like they where going threw a heater. The scene lasted for about five seconds before the bright light disappeared.

No screams came from the city beyond. Only silence ensued the clearing as only Naruto looked out over the cliff to the city the below. Slowly, Kakashi and the other and Genin stood, including Ino. Eagle was knocked out from the intense pain and the sudden realization of never being able to see again.

'_Anything on the scanner_?' Naruto asked Light.

'_Everything's clear. Nothing left in the city, but we are out of power sir. You are going to have to enter the vault and use its emergency power to teleport back to the ship._' Light replied.

'_There is no more power?_' Naruto replied in shock.

'_None left to spare. Much of the power that remains are still powering the many facilities around the galaxy. I'm sorry, but there is simply none left to spare._' Light replied.

'_I understand,' _Naruto said as he looked at the Leaf ninja steadily standing, '_I'll be there as soon as possible._'

"Naruto! What have you done?" Kakashi shouted as he lifted himself to his feet. Naruto looked his shoulder before his eyes turned blue once again.

"Maybe one day." Naruto said before jumping off the cliff. Kakashi scowled before running to the cliffs edge and jumping off after him. The three Genin ran to edge of the cliff and gasped at the scene that met them. The entire city was black from the beam that they saw earlier, but there was no fire. No smoke protruded from the black scene as the only smell was that of burnt flesh from the dead within the city.

"Lets go and catch him. He's going to pay for this." Sakura said, breaking the silence. Ino and Tenten nodded in return as they too wanted revenge for what they just witnessed.

Kakashi landed in the ashy streets of a once vibrant city and noticed that the buildings were still intact. Kakashi was confused, what happened here? Kakashi quickly discarded these thoughts and gave chase to the fleeing Forerunner, but to the Jonin's surprise Sakura, Ino, and Tenten appeared next to him as they weaved threw the destroyed city.

"We are going to help stop Naruto. He has gone to far and has to pay for this." Sakura said to Kakashi as the looks on the girls faces where those of revenge. At that moment Kakashi remembered what Naruto shoved into his mind. The message that Naruto relayed to him. 'I'm not the one who killed all these people. I'm the one who tried to save them.'

The thought began to swim around inside of Kakashi's mind as thoughts of doubt began to blossom. What if this was not Naruto's doing?

Still, it was to late for that. That dream was completely made up by Naruto so he could have implanted that dream to gain Kakashi's trust, but still... Kakashi shook his head as the group rounded another corner of an alley only for Sakura to slam into an invisible wall.

"Damn it! Naruto!" Sakura shouted at the top her voice in pure rage.

"Onto the roofs." Kakashi said. The group quickly jumped onto the roofs to see Naruto dashing across the roofs.

"Tenten!" Sakura shouted as they gave chase to Naruto.

"Right! Take this!" Tenten shouted as she pulled out a spear and shot it towards Naruto. Naruto was pierced in the back and crumpled to the ground of the rood ahead. The four ninja landed next to the pierced Naruto only for a swift blue beam to slice the area ahead of them. Suddenly, the Naruto on the ground disappeared into a cloud of smoke and the half of the building that they where standing on began to slide away from the building. As this was happening Naruto's cloak burst away from him as he turned and jumped away. The four ninja jumped backwards to the building behind them before chasing after Naruto as the corner of the building smashed into the adjacent building.

"Man he's clever." Tenten said as Naruto jumped off the building to the street beyond. The four landed on the edge of the roof to see an enormous hole in the courtyard below.

"What is it?" Ino asked as the four looked at it. A chill ran up Ino's spine as the only light was the moon above.

"Don't know, but if that's where Naruto went then that's where I'm going." Sakura said as she took a step forward only for a firm hand to clasp onto her shoulder.

"Wait. Naruto may not have went down there. He could still be in the city." Kakashi said. Sakura shook her head as she looked at the hole with determination.

"No. That's where he went. I can feel it. He's down there and he needs to see the light." Sakura said as she shrugged off Kakashi's hold on her shoulder. After Sakura jumped down to the edge of the hole, Ino and Tenten soon followed. Kakashi sighed as he looked around at the burnt city. "Are you coming Kakashi-sensei?"

"No. I'll continue the search up here. You girls go under ground, but if you find him retreat and come get me. Understand?" Kakashi ordered.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. We will." Sakura said before they leaped down into the depths below. Kakashi watched as they disappeared from his view before sighing once more. Kakashi knew Naruto was down there and Kakashi wanted so much to follow them and help, but he knew that this was a barrier that the girls had to overcome. Kakashi also knew, or believed, that Naruto would not kill them. If anything this was a test not only for the girls, but for Naruto himself.

**XxXxX**

The trio landed on the ground after a rather long fall. The moon was full and it completely filled up the hole above, giving the girls the much needed moonlight, but it was all for naught. The charred walls of the caverns beyond dimly lit the hallway for the Genin.

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten slowly walked down the cavern taking their time to check for any traps that Naruto may have lain, but to their luck no traps where lain. The red dimmed walls where smooth, but hot to the touch. Finally, the trio of girls entered an extremely large room with a strange metal like structure built into the side of it. Bright blue lines, much like Naruto's eyes, strayed across the structure as an extremely large, clear, and circular door lay rolled to the side as if opened somehow, but what the girls first noticed was a grey figure walking towards it with its hood on.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted she jumped from the opening into the room. Naruto stopped as the enraged girl charged across the room. Ino and Tenten jumped down after her.

"Wait! Sakura, hold on!" Ino shouted as her pleas landed on deaf ears as Sakura ran strait up to Naruto and turned him around. After grabbing his collar she proceeded to slug Naruto right in the face. This sent him flying backwards towards the other two girls who where shocked at Sakura's sudden outburst. Sure, Tenten and Ino and where angry at Naruto, but they want to know the reason behind it before rushing to conclusions.

"Do you know what you've done!" Sakura shouted in anger as she walked over to Naruto who was just beginning to stand, but Sakura relieved him of that action as she grabbed his collar once more slugged him once again, but this time he hit the rocks on the wall.

"Sakura, calm down! We need to ask him-!" Tenten shouted, but was interrupted by Sakura.

"Ask him what? He just completed a mass genocide of an entire city! What more is there to ask?" Sakura shouted as Naruto pulled himself from the rubble. Naruto looked up at Sakura with his glowing eyes and said nothing.

"There had to be a reasoning behind! Naruto wouldn't go and kill so many people without a reason!" Ino argued.

"Fine! Tell us Naruto. Why did you kill so many people? Was it because you wanted to test your new power? Or was it for pure pleasure? Come on Naruto tell us or else-." Sakura said insultingly before a hand was clasped around her throat and she was lifted into the air. Naruto was seen looking at her with such angered eyes that she was now scared for her life.

"Are you finished? Are you done degrading me?" Naruto asked as Sakura grabbed his hand, trying to pull the death grip off her as she tried to breath. "Good."

Naruto then threw her into Ino and Tenten who caught her before she fell to the ground.

"You have no idea the decisions I have to make. The very thought of destroying this city made my heart ache, but I had to do it. I had to stop it before it got any bigger." Naruto said as he began to walk towards the large structure that was built into the side of the rock.

"Wait! What did you have to stop that made you destroy this entire city?" Tenten asked.

"Lets hope you'll never figure that out." Naruto said calmly. Sakura was regaining her anger as Naruto was not telling them the entire truth.

"Now you stay right there! You're not telling us anything at all! What did you fight and why can't you tell us?" Sakura shouted as she stood and began walking after him.

"Some secrets are better left secret." Naruto said as he continued to walk away. Now Sakura was once again enraged. Sakura, as well as Ino, have always been ones that have been 'in the loop' and now that Naruto was going to keep them in the dark, it was beginning to annoying them.

"That's it! If you aren't going to tell us then we are going to beat it out of you!" Sakura shouted as she again made a mad dash towards Naruto. Naruto looked over his shoulder and scowled. He was almost completely out of chakra and the drawbacks of using his mind reading abilities and Kyuubi's chakra where hitting him extremely hard. Migraines continued to throb inside of Naruto's head while the Kyuubi's chakra weakened his state even further. Tired and in pain Naruto was in no condition to fight a battle against three Genin that used little, compared to Naruto, chakra before. Naruto's shield was gone and most of his reservers of the energy that he stored before the blast where used before when he was escaping. Naruto knew that he had to find a way to escape while also destroying this place, but how?

Sakura swiftly pushed chakra into her fist as she brought it back behind her head.

"I'll pound you into the dirt and bring you back to Kohona if its the last thing I do!" Sakura shouted as she shot her fist towards Naruto head. Naruto quickly lifted his arm up and pushed her arm into a direction that would force her fist to barely miss his head. Sakura's right fist brushed by Naruto's left cheek as her arm now lay over Naruto's left shoulder. Naruto quickly punched into Sakura's gut with his right fist, making her gag and reel over from the force, but then Ino and Tenten appeared on both of Naruto's flanks. Two kunai shot from both sides and towards Naruto, but what meant to force Naruto away from Sakura quickly turned into disaster. Naruto did jump backwards and away from Sakura, but not before pulling said ninja into the sights of the kunai. Naruto slid across the rock and dirt while watching the kunai move towards Sakura.

"Now!" Tenten shouted as the two flanking ninja pulled backwards as the glint of wire came to Naruto's eyes. The two kunai quickly shot back towards their holders and redelivered towards Naruto. Naruto waited until the kunai was just in front of him before grabbing the first kunai and blocking the second one with it. Naruto then grabbed the other one and used what little power reserves that where left and shot an electric current down the wires, shocking the two Genin. Tenten and Ino screamed as their bodies shook from the intense shock. Naruto stopped the shock after a few more seconds and soon afterwards the two fell to the ground with smoke coming off of their bodies. Naruto looked at the two knocked out Genin with his glowing blue eyes before looking back at Sakura who was now looking at him in shock and with tears in her eyes.

"What happened to you?" Sakura asked softly. Naruto stared back in silence. Naruto knew what she was talking about. The change that overcame him as the lust for knowledge began to force a void in his mind. The lackluster attempt to bring Sasuke back and his knew calculative attitude towards situations that, in the past, he would simply charge in and use brute force. Yes, Naruto knew of this change, but he could not... no, he would not let them know of his Forerunner becoming. They would never believe him if he told them that he was an alien, but in a sense he isn't. Naruto was born here, but Naruto knew that he would never truly feel like he was a shinobi again.

"I... I'm sorry, but... lets hope you'll never learn the truth." Naruto said as Naruto could feel the emotion behind Sakura's words. She truly wanted him back, along with Tenten and Ino, but he could never go back. Naruto looked back towards Sakura only for his eyes to widen in surprise. Chakra was seeping from Sakura's being as the power was immense. Sakura was charging a lot of chakra into a single jutsu.

"I know you may not believe me, but you can tell us your secrets. We aren't your enemies, we're your friends and we only want to help and if the only way to make you believe me is to beat you then I will do anything in my power to bring you back." Sakura said as tears continued to stream down her face. Naruto looked at her in surprise as she began to pool her chakra into an area in front of her fist and around arm with a tiny connection connecting her fist to the pool of chakra that surrounded her fist and arm. Sakura began to walk towards Naruto with the power in her arm continuing to grow. Naruto looked at her in shock as he was not expecting Sakura to hold so much power, but Naruto guessed that was what he should have expected for training with Tsunade. Naruto willed the remaining amount of chakra he had left into his hand. A light began to build inside of Naruto's hand as his eyes found the tiny connection that connected Sakura's fist to her chakra. Sakura began to run towards Naruto while bringing back her fist to hit Naruto, but at the same time the light in Naruto's hand began to build at the same time and right when Sakura was bringing her fist towards Naruto, said Forerunner reeled his arm backwards and sent it out to meet Sakura's strike. The last thing the two saw was a bright light that lit up the entire sanctuary.

**XxXxX**

Sakura stood with her eyes closed from the bright light and with her arm extended out towards Naruto. Slowly the Genin opened her eyes to the world beyond the cover of her eye lids. As the bright circles began to disappeared from the center of her vision she looked over towards her enemy, her comrade, her friend, only to see him standing there with his arms to his side. His hood was behind him and his once bright glowing eyes where now the shade of blue she remembered from so long ago. The chakra that was forced into her strike could be seen floating up into the air as Naruto cut her connection to the jutsu at the final moment. Slowly, her vision began to blacken from her mass output of chakra. Sakura had put everything she had into that one strike and it failed. Sakura forced her body to stay up as she looked back at Naruto, but said man raised a hand and put it on top of Sakura's outstretched fist and just before Sakura passed out she heard one last thing from her former teammate.

"Maybe one day, Sakura. Maybe one day..."

Sakura's vision then went black.

**XxXxX**

A/N: Well, there it is. I know you guys hate me for the EXTREMELY long wait, but I've had no time for stories. I know people are disappointed with the last chapter, but I didn't want to give away all the secrets about everything in the first chapter. Why is the Forerunner technology not super powerful? Because the Forerunners never needed a war department until the war began with the Flood. As for the Power Stations... lets just say I had everything planned out before writing the story.

Well it was a fun idea and I had a great time writing it, but, for now, I'll say it is discontinued. Between life and stuff I don't have any time on my hands. Maybe one day I'll return to this story and continue writing it, but until then all of my secrets that I had in store for this story will be wrote down elsewhere for if I do return my old ideals will not disappear.

I hope that for the people who actually did read this story enjoyed as it was a rather out of the ordinary twist that one would not normally see to the Naruto story.

Good luck to everyone in their separate stories and I hope that my stories have inspired some people to begin writing or sparked a great idea in someone else's mind.


	5. An Alternative Plan

**XxXxX-Year 2520**

"This is outrageous!" A deep voice erupted in a rather small room. The metal on the walls were a metallic yellow with the lights built into the ceiling. A round table stood in the center of the room with ten chairs surrounding it. Plates and cups where scattered across the table with ten occupants sitting on said chairs. One of which just abruptly stood from his chair in rage. The source came from none other than Hyus Granedum.

The other occupants, three Ultra Grunts and six Elites, looked down at their plates when the outburst was released. The others knew it was only a matter of time before Hyus's head exploded. The other officers looked up at their commander when he looked at the others in his division.

"Do you realize what just happened?!" Hyus shouted as he brushed the contents of the table onto the ground. The grunts in the room flinched while the other Elites looked at him in question. "Those 'Heretics' down there found something. They found the truth and we forced them to destroy it!"

Recently, Hyus's division had been forced onto the front lines, taking the bulk of the fire from Heretic forces controlling a Forerunner facility, while his commander flanked and entered the Forerunner station. Soon after the station was destroyed, and along with it, the secrets to the truth behind the Prophets teachings.

"How are you sure, Hyus? How are you so certain that's what they found?" One of the more bold Elites asked. Hyus looked at him in what looked like pure anger, but to their surprise a much more quiet voice was produced.

"Before the station was destroyed I was able to hack one of the terminals and I found flaws, gaps, in the Prophets teachings. Not everything they have been telling us is true." Hyus said as he looked to each of his men. Unlike most in the Covenant who look at him like he was crazy and call him a Heretic, his men responded with nods.

Hyus's men have been with him since he was first elected from his men to take this position. After proving himself in combat, Hyus was offered to command both his division, the Burning Blade, and a much smaller unit of Hunters and Jackals, which are not included in the Special Operations Unit. Hyus quickly changed that and trained and treated both Special Ops units and his smaller unit of Jackals and Hunters the same. Soon the Jackals and Hunters of the 967th Support Unit where soon merged into Hyus's Burning Blade Division. This was unheard of in the Covenant and most looked down upon him for allowing support units like the Jackal and Hunter into the Spec Ops, but due to Hyus's intense training these flaws where quickly wiped out. Now, these units are essential to Hyus's new form of tactics and strategies and since all other Spec Ops units refuse to bring in any Jackals or Hunters, none can obtain Hyus's new form of fighting.

"I was also given something…" Hyus said as he placed an audio chip onto the table. His men looked at the chip in question. "It came from one of the Heretics. Truth that there are flaws behind the Prophets words."

"I see. What are your orders Commander?" Bresse asked. Bresse was his second in command and was completely loyal to Hyus.

Hyus stepped away from the table and towards the window. The outside world greeted Hyus with the same blackness as always. The air in the room was tense as the officers awaited their orders.

"The Prophets are becoming too problematic and refuse to see what they are pushing everyone towards." Hyus said as he looked back towards his men. "Engage Operation: Purify."

**XxXxX**

"That was a close one." Ugana said with a smile as he beat one of his men in a tactical board game in his quarters. Ugana's, along with Hyus's and Drang's, forces are all stationed onboard the massive carrier ship named 'Golden Light', due to its strange gold coloring that stood out from the standard purple, and are currently on leave for a short time before they are called back into duty.

"Well, I almost got you." The young soldier said after a sigh. Ugana grinned at the young elite.

"True, but 'almost' won't win battles now will they?" Ugana asked as the younger soldier twitched from his commander's comment, but then a hand was placed on his shoulder. "Do not worry young one. You will get better in time."

"Thank you sir. It was a pleasure-" The younger soldier started, but was interrupted when a Ultra Grunt burst into the room breathing heavily.

"What do you need?" Ugana asked. The Grunt took a few more seconds to breath before stating what he saw.

"There is an uprising amongst our forces! There's fighting all over this ship and the surrounding escort ships! There is Heresy afoot!" The Grunt shouted. The two Elite's violently stood from the table.

"Hyus!"

**XxXxX**

"Sakura! Are you okay?! Please answer us!" A voice shouted as Sakura was shaken awake by the pair of hands that pressed against her. Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see Ino looking at her with tear stained eyes and smile on her face. As Sakura looked around her Tenten, Kakashi, and Kurenai came into view. Sakura also noticed that she was no longer inside the cave, but atop the cliff that they had battled on earlier. "Your awake!"

Sakura then began to stand, but was about to fall over when Ino and Tenten caught her.

"Wha... what happened?" Sakura asked. Silence soon followed as everyone looked towards the ground. Sakura then realized what happened and at the same time remembered her final moments before blacking out. Tears slowly began to fall from Sakura's eyes in realization. Sakura released herself from her two friends grasp as she turned around towards the cliff.

'You think… that you'll get away with this?' Sakura thought as she slowly limped towards the edge as the gray skies began to buildup. As Sakura made her way towards the cliffs edge, a drizzle began to fall from the heavens. All watched as she made her way.

Sakura stopped on the cliffs edge only to be greeted by a black city. Burnt and destroyed by a war no one will know of. Nobody will ever know the reason for the deaths of so many countless lives, but there was one thing for certain. Sakura looked up into the gray heavens above as the rain became extremely heavy.

'But… why is it that I can't believe that? Believe that you would kill thousands of people without a purpose? Naruto…' Sakura thought as she continued to look up into the darkening sky above. 'Please, stay safe.'

**XxXxX**

"Forerunner." A distant voice said softly. Naruto's eyes slowly opened to the feeling of a warm fire pressing against his body and the dark sky above.

"Watch Forerunner." The voice said again as Naruto lifted himself up only to see the fire and smoke rising from over the side of a cliff. Naruto slowly stood from the prone position he was in. Once Naruto was standing he proceeded to walk to edge of the cliff.

Naruto was baffled by what he saw. Kohona, his birthplace, was in flames. Screams could be heard from the flaming city below as tentacles could be seen moving throughout the city as well as infected shinobi.

"Watch, Forerunner, as I infect the ones closest to you." The voice said once more as a large Flood creature rose up in front of Naruto. It was none other than the Gravemind. Naruto's eyes turned to a bright blue color as he looked back at the almost immortal Flood being in front of him.

"You know the outcome of what is happening in front of you, do you not?" The Gravemind asked. Naruto stared back in silence. Naruto knew very well what this meant. Just like any other sentient being that is infected by the Flood, the Gravemind absorbs the knowledge of the infected being and learns from the unfortunate being that is captured. So, in this case, the Gravemind will have the knowledge of the jutsu that the shinobi knew.

"The only thing that could be close to topping this would be..." The Grave started as large green tentacles began to surround Naruto. Naruto looked at the green worms and back to the Gravemind, "you."

Just as the Gravemind said the final word the "worms" that surrounded Naruto shot closed at blinding speed... shinobi speed. Then, everything went black.

**XxXxX**

Naruto shot up from his bed in a cold sweat. Naruto was breathing heavily as he looked around him only to see his chamber as he left it. Naruto sighed as he began to settle down from what he just witnessed.

'It's true.' Naruto thought to himself as he stood up from his bed and over to the balcony atop his tower that loomed over the ruins of a once great city. The heavy rain and warm temperature continued to beat down onto the planet relentlessly as the rain made Naruto's hair wet. 'If the Gravemind managed to get ahold of a shinobi then it can unlock the potential of chakra, but even worse...'

Naruto looked up into the sky with his bright blue eyes. The clouds where dark and fill with sadness.

'...If it were to capture me. Then it would have the complete knowledge of the Forerunner technology that has melded to the shinobi chakra structure.'

After a few moments of Naruto thinking to himself in the rain Light appeared from the balcony door behind him.

"Creator, please come in or you will catch a disease." Light said in the softest tone that one like itself could make. After another moment Naruto turned towards the floating ball and with a troubled look on his face.

"Light, prepare an excavation team." Naruto said. Light was confused. It has only been a week since he came back and the only thing Naruto has done since coming back is meditate, eat, and sleep. What is he up to?

"What ever for?" Light asked curiously.

"A backup plan." Naruto said as he walked past his confused friend. A backup plan for what?

**XxXxX**

"Hyus, on the left!" Bresse shouted as a blue plasma bolt erupted from the end of his Plasma Rifle. The blue bolt hit a Grunt that was holding a Type-52 Guided Munitions Launcher, or more commonly known as a Plasma Launcher/Cannon. (Essentially the shoulder fired launcher fires up to four plasma grenades that guides themselves towards the locked on target until finally sticking itself to the target and exploding).

"Thank you. Langoo! Move it up!" Hyus shouted as a black coated Hunter shot past the two and strait through a door that was locked. "Good! Now everyone move through the door!"

Several more Hunters quickly moved through the door and was soon followed by elite's, grunts, and jackals. After everyone moved through the door Hyus and Bresse soon threw themselves into the mix. Hyus immediately slammed his body into cover and quickly glanced over the wall to find himself looking down onto one of the docking stations of the massive ship. His troops where firing down onto the Grunts and Elites that where taking care of the Banshees and Spirit drop ships. The enemy troops where scrambling to take cover as Hyus's troops fired everything they had down at them.

Hyus looked down at the troops only to see the enemy not firing back at all. Hyus was confused. These men are special operations. Why are they not firing back?

"Hold your fire!" Hyus shouted. Hyus's men all stopped firing at the same moment when the order was given out. After a few seconds of silence an Elite stepped out from behind one of the Banshees. He was obviously the Lieutenant and commander of the area.

"Are you the one known as Hyus?" The Elite shouted in question.

"Who's asking?" Hyus returned.

"My name is Polaris and my 1078th Special Operations wing and I have been docked here for some time." Polaris said.

"Your point?" Hyus asked with impatience laced in his voice.

"My men and I have heard about your rebellion and heresy and wondered if we could jump aboard." Polaris asked. Hyus was confused even more now. He looked at Polaris's men as they all came out from behind cover with their OLG (Orbital Landing Gear) and their pilot gear on. Their Banshees and Spirit ships where also made out of the same gold material that covered carrier and the surrounding escorts.

"Why would you want to join us?" Hyus asked as his men lowered their weapons.

"The Prophets... they are lying aren't they?" Polaris asked. Hyus nodded.

"I thought so. You are not the only one who has fought against the Heretics and had their beliefs wavered. We once had to board a Forerunner structure and fight against the Heretics amongst the beautiful engineering around us. We learned much from the Heretics words." Polaris explained. Hyus nodded his head in understanding.

"I understand. You are allowed to join us under one condition." Hyus said.

"And what's that?" Polaris asked.

"You are to follow my orders and report to only me from now on. Not the Prophets. Not the other Heretics. Only me." Hyus said. Polaris looked at him and smiled.

"Yes commander. I will follow your orders." Polaris said as he pressed his arm to his chest and bowed. The other men of Polaris's division did the same.

"Good. Now tell the other men of your wing to do the same throughout the ship. After that get into your vessels and support any of the escort ships that need the help of your landing forces. Tell me when all of the escort ships are secure." Hyus ordered. Polaris nodded in understanding.

"Yes commander. It will be done." Polaris said as Hyus turned and ran off. The rest of his troops following close behind.

Little did Hyus know, but the situation that just unfolded before him was unfolding everywhere else. The Special Operations troops that had come in close contact with the Heretics and Forerunner technology have been turning coat and joining Hyus's rebellion against the Prophet and the Commanding officer aboard the ship.

'Ugana... I'm coming for you." Hyus thought as he and his unit fought their way to the bridge of the ship.

**XxXxX**

"This planet…" Naruto said as he stepped off his ship and onto the muddy surface.

"This planet was once a thriving Forerunner planet, but was long since abandoned by your ancestors to the corners of space." Light said, "Now this planet is a Sangheili colony."

Naruto looked out across the vast swamplands before him. Barely any trees stood except for the random build up of trees that signaled an island. These islands where barely enough to hold a single ship let alone an excavation crew. Naruto could build a platform, but being quite was his main focus. Naruto did not want any Covenant space vessel to see his plans. Seeing as how they where now deep in Covenant controlled space.

"Creator.,, have you heard of the relayed message of your return?" Light asked. Naruto was quiet for a moment.

"Yes, I have." Naruto replied.

"Well, the Prophets are saying you're a fraud and if they ever come in contact with you then they'll attack you on sight." Light said.

"So, in a sense they have declared war on me and all other sentinels." Naruto said as other Forerunner vessels landed on other islands around them.

"Possibly. Their leaders where not very clear on exactly 'what' they would attack. Their religion worships your artifacts, but they say you're not a Forerunner. It makes sense once one thinks about it." Light said.

"If I would not have been made out as a fraud then the entire Covenant would have turned coat and betrayed their Prophet leaders. It's the only way to keep them under their rule." Naruto said.

"Exactly. The Prophets know more then what they let on." Light said.

"Agreed, but let's focus on the task at hand. I want everything to be done as quietly as possible. If found out, I want Anti-Air batteries and EVAC ships waiting on constant alert. Also…" Naruto started, but was finished by Light.

"You want the Scuttle Protocol in effect as well?" Light said. Naruto nodded. "As you wish, but I must warn you that we are not able to fight the full force of the Covenant Armada at this point. Our Power Plants are still in repair across the galaxy and this will only further delay plans for a full repair of our other facilities." Light said.

"I know, but this information must be found, no matter the cost." Naruto said. Light looked at Naruto a moment with confusion. What was it he was looking for that he didn't know about? Light knew that there was a research facility here buried somewhere in this area, but nothing on record looked to be of any use.

"What is it you're looking for anyway?" Light asked.

"You will see… in time." Naruto replied.

**XxXxX**

"Is everyone ready?!" Hyus shouted as several Honor Guard Elites where seen crouching against the wall as the charge was ready and planted on the door. "Lets do it! Blow it!"

The door was blown inwards, sending smoke all over the hall and the room on the other side. Blue bolts could be seen firing past Hyus's men as Hyus was first to dive threw the smoke, followed by the Elites. The front Elites that followed Hyus into the smoke all pulled out Energy Swords, as well as Hyus. The back Elites all where holding Type-51 Plasma Rifles.

On the other side of the smoke Hyus clashed swords with Ugana. The fight around them was point blank range as more Elites from Hyus's brigade stormed into the room.

"Tell me. Why are you turning coat like this? You where my most valiant commander! What is going through your mind?" Ugana asked as Hyus jumped back and clashed with his commander once more. Hyus pushed Ugana back and attempted to slash out vertically, but Ugana sidestepped and jabbed at Hyus. Hyus brought up his sword and locked it between his and Ugana's sword.

"Because... the Prophets are lying to us. To everyone! They want to activate all of these... Halos, but do you know what they do? Has anyone actually figured out what their purpose is?" Hyus asked as they unlocked their swords and jumped backwards.

"Lets take this to a more private location. Shall we?" Ugana said as he turned and bolted out of one of the side doors. Hyus was close behind, following his ex-commander into a training room that was used to train new recruits in how to use the energy sword.

Hyus stared at Ugana's back as he knew his old Commander was thinking. Ugana quickly turned and swiped his sword towards Hyus, who quickly parried and elbowed Ugana away. Ugana stumbled backwards before pulling out a Plasma Pistol and pointing it towards Hyus. Hyus quickly jumped behind one of the training dummies while green plasma bolts shot past him.

"The Prophets... they say if we succeed in activating the Halo Rings then we will all be blessed into the Great Journey!" Ugana shouted. Hyus shook his head from behind the training dummy. Hyus wanted to convince his old commander of the treacherous ways of the Prophets.

"The Great Journey is not real. No matter how much we believe it to be true, it will always be false. Those Halo Rings that the Prophets say are holy are not portals to this 'Great Journey'." Hyus said as he tried desperately to talk his master out of fighting and into joining him. Ugana would make an excellent senior commander.

"How do you know this? How am I supposed to believe any of this?!" Ugana asked as Hyus shot out from the other side of the dummy. Ugana fired a few plasma bolts towards Hyus, but said soldier managed to slice the pistol in two and kick Ugana backwards.

Hyus looked down to see a glowing blue ball beneath him. Hyus quickly jumped backwards, but the force of the Plasma Grenade flung him into the wall behind him. Ugana was also flung away from the blast.

"The Heretics that we fight against have told us that the information that they have brought up, from what little they can access and piece together, has relayed that those 'relics' are pacification units. Pacification... a heavy word. What would it be used for?" Hyus said between coughs as he stood up.

Ugana also stood up and stared at Hyus for a moment before shaking his head

"That's not enough to stop me from believing in the Prophets. This pacification that you continue spill out is the Great Journey that our leaders believe in!" Ugana shouted back. Hyus sighed, as he now knew that he had to bring out the big guns if he wished to get Ugana on his side.

"There is... one other thing that the Heretics have been searching for." Hyus said, as his tone became that of complete seriousness.

"What are the Heretics looking for?" Ugana asked.

"It seems that there is still a Forerunner, a real Forerunner, still alive somewhere in the galaxy." Hyus said with a deep sigh.

Ugana was quiet. A... a real Forerunner? Alive? The very one that built all of these machines and wonders that we have been collecting? After a few more moments of silence, Ugana began to talk.

"Impossible. How do you know this?" Ugana asked. Hyus knew this question was coming and prepared for it. Hyus pulled out an audio file and tossed it to Ugana. "What's this?"

"It's the very file that the Heretics glimpsed before they where completely forced out of the Forerunner system. Play it and you will know." Hyus said as Ugana looked back down at the file. After clicking the play button a crackling could be heard over the speaker before a faint sound could be heard over the static in another language that could not be recognized. At the end of the audio log the crackling of static returned and the log ended.

"What did it say? I could not understand it." Ugana asked.

"The words where as followed. 'Purpose has been restored... the rebuilding process has begun... new energy fuels the 'Rebuilding'... life returns to our ancient halls... the body is whole, but the mind is young... the Creator is coming..." Hyus recited. Ugana had a shocked look on his face. "Ever since that last message was relayed we have not been able to access any files of any sort. Even your precious Prophets are finding it challenging to steal technology from him."

"Him?" Ugana asked, still in shock of what he just heard. Hyus looked at Ugana intently before replying.

"The 'Creator' has returned and we will seek him out and find out the true purpose of these Halo's." Hyus said. Ugana didn't know what to believe at this point. Should he believe Hyus and join him? Or should he stick to his old beliefs? Hyus looked at Ugana as he dropped his sword and looked at his hands. "Ugana, join me and help us find the Creator."

Ugana looked at Hyus as he outstretched a hand to him. Ugana looked at the hand and smiled.

"You better be right, or we will be in deep shit with the Prophets, Commander." Ugana said as he clasped his hand to Hyus's.

"Indeed, but the Heretics have already relayed this message to the Prophets, but they said that, if he exists, that this being is an impostor and should be treated as someone who somehow stolen the Forerunners power for his own gain." Hyus explained as they walked back to the bridge. As they entered, Ugana's men could be seen dead or captured.

"The bridge is clear sir!" Bresse said as he saluted with a fist to his chest.

"Very good. Ugana has decided to join us in our search. Ugana, get in contact with your men. See if any of them want to join. If not, kill the rest." Hyus said. Ugana nodded and walked away.

"Polaris. Are the escort ships secured?" Hyus asked as he pressed a finger against his ear. In his ear was a tiny headset that allowed only him and the commanders of certain platoons to talk.

"Yes commander. All escort ships are secured." Polaris said. Just as Polaris said this Ugana walked up to Hyus.

"All of my men have decided to join you. All fighting has ceased onboard all of the other vessels." Ugana said. Hyus walked over to the Admirals chair and sat down in it.

"Good. Looks like the operation was a success. Bresse, Ugana, Polaris, tell the men to get into positions as we are on a search mission. Lets find this 'Creator' and the true purpose of the Halo's." Hyus said.

"Yes sir!" Everyone in the room, as well as Polaris over the mic, said in unison.

**XxXxX**

They think that I'm contained... long since cast into the shadows of the Forerunners belly, but I grow more powerful each day.

One day I will break away from this prison, and when they do ... Naruto... you and every intelligent species in this galaxy will be consumed.

You know that this day is coming, young Forerunner, and when it does… you, and the entire galaxy, best be prepared.

**XxXxX-End**

Ok, so it's been a while since I last updated and to be honest I'm surprised that I did, but lately I just have wanted to write.

Please, also note that I'm not able to upload every week or have a time frame when the next chapter will appear, so see this a random treat for all those still reading! :D


	6. A Close Encounter

**XxXxX- Two weeks after take over**

Close, that's what Hyus feels like as he looked out of the bridges front window, out into the black nothingness of space. Hyus could sense that they were close to where ever the 'Creator' is. There are so many things that he wants to ask him and know about him, but what if the Prophets where right? What if this person is just a fake?

Hyus shook his head as he looked down at the hand held terminal and growled as he tossed it onto the table next to him in frustration. There are so many unknowns about everything. The Burning Blade was now on their way towards a planet deep in Covenant controlled space. The Heretics seem to believe that there is a facility there that has long been forgotten by the Prophets that still houses important data on the Halo's.

Hyus shook his head as he pressed his fingers to his forehead before standing and walking towards the exit. Bresse looked up at Hyus with worried eyes.

"I'm fine, just need a walk." Hyus said reassuringly as the door shut behind him. Hyus continued to walk down the endless corridors of the ship before reaching the observation deck to the mess hall. Hyus stopped and looked out over his troops. Hyus smiled at the sight before him. Different species that made up his unit where smiling and laughing together. Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and Hunters, all talking and communing without separation. Is this what Hyus was fighting for? He wanted this, this being the friendship between species and the trust to lean on one another.

"It's funny, isn't?" A voice said from behind him. Hyus turned to see Ugana leaning against the window over looking the mess hall.

"What is?" Hyus asked. Ugana nodded towards Hyus's men with a smile.

"How creatures from different species get along so well. Never before have I seen this." Ugana said as he maneuvered himself so he was facing Hyus's men. "On every ship I've ever been on you would see all the different species separated from one another, but not here."

"It's amazing isn't it? I wonder why they get along so well?" Hyus asked. Ugana shook his head and patted Hyus's shoulder.

"It's because of you." Ugana said. Hyus was surprised.

"Me?" Hyus responded.

"Of course. You're the one that made these soldiers feel as if they had family. If I remember correctly these men of yours were taken in from the streets and orphanage volunteer groups. You included." Ugana said. Hyus sighed as he looked at his men.

"I sure do have a history with them, don't I?" Hyus asked with a smile of his own.

"You sure do. You brought up these soldiers from the very beginning and to accept the support units so well completely blows me away. I don't know what you did, but it seems to work." Ugana said.

"Just gave them the respect they deserve. I respect all of them equally, no matter the job." Hyus said. Ugana nodded, but looked over at Hyus when he stood up and pressed he finger to his ear.

"What is it? Okay, I understand. I'll be right up." Hyus said before turning to Ugana. "We just entered the space around the planet. Prepare the men."

**XxXxX**

"Creator, we have a situation." Light said as he followed Naruto down a pitch-black hallway. But, to them, it was bright as day of the night vision that was inside Naruto's helmet.

"I know, are the AA batteries prepared?" Naruto said.

"Yes, but why are they here? How did they find us?" Light pondered.

"The Covenant knew this facility was here, but marked it off as useless. No new technology came from this sight so they abandoned it." Naruto stated.

"Then what makes you think that whatever you're looking for is still here?" Light asked.

"Because," Naruto started as two CS's forced open a door in front of them. Inside there was a large terminal on the opposite side of the small room. A blue ball with various symbols covering the outside in a random pattern sat at the terminals base. "Only I can access this terminal."

"Light, command the CS's and give me cover while I extract the information. Let me know if it's the Covenant or Heretics. Do not open fire until we find out." Naruto ordered.

"How long will it take you?" Light asked. This information isn't recorded anywhere that can be accessed by him, meaning it was something either really important or dangerous.

"I don't know." Naruto said as the thick wall of glass slid up into the ceiling.

"Understood. We will cover you, Creator." Light said.

**XxXxX**

Hyus entered the bridge of his ship with all of his upper staff standing at attention. "What's the problem? Why haven't we began the decent?"

"There seems to be a ship sitting above the target area." Ugana stated as Hyus walked up to the table and viewed the hologram. The planet sat beneath three ships. A large cruiser and three smaller destroyer ships. One of the small destroyer ships seemed to be inside the atmosphere of the planet.

"Are they Covenant?" Hyus asked.

"No, they seem to be raiders in search of artifacts to sell." Bresse commented. Hyus sighed as he put his hand to his face. "What are you orders?"

Hyus leaned against the table and looked at the hologram in front of him. Was the information on the Halos really here? If not and Hyus engages the raiders then this will all be for not. A senseless sacrifice of men and weapons. Something that Hyus doesn't have a lot to lose.

If those Heretics gave him false information then there would be hell to pay.

"Stay outside of their scanners and wait. Let's see if they'll leave soon." Hyus said.

"Why not engage the raiders and take them out? They don't have many ships. We could easily-." Bresse began to say.

"No, there is no need to attack them and lose men for no reason. We'll wait for a short time and see if they find anything." Hyus said. Bresse nodded and saluted. Hyus knew of Bresse's past with raiders, but the protection of his men comes first before petty vengeance.

**XxXxX**

"They seem to be raider's sir, but another group of ships have entered the planets space." Light said as Naruto scanned through the terminal in front of him. Naruto stopped and turned towards Light.

"Raiders? Hmm… are they here to scavenge what's left of this facility?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed, but the second group of ships that came don't seem to be engaging the raiders." Light said.

"They aren't Covenant then because they have a policy to shoot down raiders on sight. Heretic's maybe? Possibly merchants?" Naruto suggested.

"The ships are heavily armed so it couldn't be merchants. The more likely possibility are Heretics." Light replied. Naruto nodded and turned back to the terminal behind him. The screen went dark, meaning it was locked. Naruto turned and walked towards the door.

"I'm taking direct control of this matter." Naruto said before exiting the room.

**XxXxX**

"This is unit four. We've entered the facility, commander. All's clear." An Sangheili said into his suits headset.

"Keep going until you find anything useful. The other teams will continue to try and find an entrance." Another Sangheili responded via headset. "We're moving more troops to your entrance as well. Good luck."

"Understood." The Elite said before turning on his suits flashlight. It was pitch black inside the underground/underwater facility. Since the structure of the building was built under the vast swamp like ocean above, the only entrances where the ones on the small islands that dotted the landscape. "Looks like we're the only ones that managed to get in so far."

"Heh, that means more pay for us then!" One of the other Elites shouted. The first Elite sighed and looked around at his squad. Twelve Sangheili Elites with a combination of Carbines and plasma rifles all looked around at the Forerunner facility. Fifteen Jackals, most with shields and plasma pistols, two others with beam rifles, all stared at him. They all wore brown armor in some sort of fashion to distinguish who they were allied to.

"I suppose, but something doesn't feel right…" The squad leader said. A swift pat on the back from one of the Elites calmed his nerves somewhat.

"Relax! This placed has been deserted for the last couple of years! This should be an easy grab and run!"

The squad leader nodded in return. "You're right. Let's get moving."

The squad leader looked around the large entrance room and saw three hallways. "Okay we are going to split up into three groups."

**XxXxX**

"This rooms empty…" One of the raider Sangheili said as he exited one of the rooms, two Jackals following suit. The leader turned behind him and another group exited another room. Nothing.

"The Covenant did a good job of clearing this place out." The Leader said as he continued down the hallway a bit and saw an open door. "Hey! Did anyone check this room yet?"

"No not yet!" One of the Sangheili responded. The Leader looked into the pitch black room and slowly walked in, but once he was fully inside the door quickly shut behind him.

"Shit!" The leader shouted as he turned and banged on the door. "Hey! Is anyone there! Can you guys hear me?!"

But there was no response from the other side. The leader quickly turned and pointed his Carbine around the room. The room was more like a hallway in that it was narrow and long. The Elites flashlight couldn't reach the end of it.

The Elite heard something at the end of the hallway. A footstep maybe? The Elite pointed his Carbine down the hallway and suddenly realized that his hands were shaking. 'Keep it together! This place has been abandoned for years! It's probably just an animal!'

Another foot step broke the mind warping silence, then another. The flashlight on the suit of the Elite began to flicker before dying completely. The only light coming from the screen on his Carbine.

"Who's there?!" The Elite shouted as he began to tremble even more. Never has he felt this way before. A blue flicker of light broke the darkness in front of him. He aimed his trembling Carbine towards where the blue light flickered. "S-Show yourself!"

A light was suddenly turned on just above the raider, illuminating the area around him. "What's this?"

Then a 'thing' stepped out of the veil of darkness. It wore a gray and blue cloak with a helmet with black holes where the eyes should be.

The thing remained silent as it simply stared at the Elite. Finally the Elite realized that the thing standing in front of him was not going to attack him. "What are you? Some sort of sentinel?"

"Leave this place." The cloaked figure commanded. The Sangheili jumped slightly after hearing it talk. It knows our language?!

"Leave? Tell me what you are then I'll consider it." The Elite said in defiance. The cloaked thing remained silent for a moment. Maybe it was debating its possibilities? It didn't look to be armed with any weapon that the raider could see.

"I'm a Forerunner." It said calmly. The Elite stared at the shorter cloaked figure in question. A Forerunner? A real Forerunner? No, it can't be a Forerunner. The Prophets warned all species that a fake Forerunner has arrived to guide us away from the Great Journey.

"No, you're a fake! We were told of this! Everyone was!" The raider shouted in defiance. Even if they are raiders, they still believed in the Great Journey.

"I'll warn you one last time. Leave this place." The figure demanded. The Elite began to laugh now.

"Oh no! There's no way that I'm going to turn down an opportunity like this one! The price on your head is worth a fortune!" The Elite shouted.

Said Elite began to fire his weapon into the cloaked figure, but the green bolts where simply absorbed by the shield that surrounded it.

"If that is your wish…" The cloaked figure responded before it lifted its hand towards the Elite. Its hand began to glow blue and energy could be seen entering the things hand.

"Die."

**XxXxX**

"Sir! We've got a problem!" Bresse shouted. Hyus turned towards his second in command.

"What's going on?" Hyus responded.

"We're picking up com chatter from the raiders inside the facility. It seems that they are under attack." Bresse said.

"Patch me through." Hyus ordered. Bresse nodded and typed in a few commands onto the keyboard on the table in the center of the bridge. Only static was heard at first, but then, after some tweaking from Bresse, the coms where online.

"Sir! We are under fire from an unknown enemy!" A Sangheili shouted. Intense fire, explosions, and screams could be heard in the background. "We need evac now!"

"We are trying our best right now, but the destroyer in orbit has been destroyed by a heavy AA turret." The Commander of the raiders responded. "Can you describe the enemy for us? We're flying blind up here."

"All I know is that they aren't any type of sentinels we've ever encountered! Shit! Get that out of the-." The Sangheili shouted over the incoming fire, but was cut off by a loud explosion.

Bresse turned to Hyus, who was now gripping the table tightly. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, but that very well could be the 'Creator' down there… if not…" Hyus said before trailing off.

"You aren't seriously thinking of going down there!" Ugana said before he walked up to the commander.

"What other choice do we have? The Sentinels are protecting something of great value down there. If it's not the 'Creator' then it's information worth protecting!" Bresse shouted.

"Sir." Polaris said, but was quickly blocked out by the arguing Elites.

"Then we should move forward with caution. Commander, please, this is suicide! If we go down there then we'll get slaughtered!" Ugana argued.

"Sir…!" Polaris pushed a little harder, but, again, was pushed out.

"Then we'll slip in past the Sentinels and the raiders. Find what they're protecting and slip out!" Bresse exclaimed.

"SIR!" Polaris shouted over the two arguing Elites, finally getting Hyus's attention.

"What's the problem?" Hyus asked.

"We have intercepted a transmission from one of the colonies below. It seems a Covenant force is making their way here now." Polaris said.

"Damn it… the colonists must have warned the Covenant that something is going on." Hyus elaborated.

"What are your orders?" Bresse asked. Hyus squeezed the table one last time before pushing himself away from the table.

"Bresse, ready two of our fastest hunters and elites. Be ready in five." Hyus said before walking towards the exit. Bresse smiled a bit and saluted.

"Yes sir!"

**XxXxX**

"Are the raiders in the facility dealt with?" Naruto said as he typed away at the terminal.

"No, there seemed to have been a large contingent of raiders moving into the facility when the fighting started. Most of the raiders are held up near the entrance while smaller groups are scattered about." Light explained. Naruto stopped typing and turned towards Light.

"Anything else?"

"There is a Heretic cruiser entering the airspace."

"What's their objective?"

"Unknown."

Naruto sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling. "Let them through, but if they take any action towards us then begin firing on them."

**XxXxX**

"It's a blood bath down there!" Bresse exclaimed as he saw the video feed of the battle on the surface. Forerunner platforms hovered above the swampy water with large cannons sitting on top of them. Presumably those where the AA cannons that took down the destroyer that was now burning and slowly sinking into the murky water below. Raiders where taking cover behind whatever they could find on the small islands and firing at the CS's on the hovering platforms.

"Do we have confirmation on how the raiders got in?" Hyus asked over the coms channel.

"There seems to be an opening on one of the small islands. I'm sending the coordinates to you now." Polaris said. Hyus soon got the information and immediately sent it to the pilot.

"Alright guys. I want this to be quick and easy. Run in and follow my lead. We are looking for this 'Creator' or any information that may help us in our search for the truth." Hyus said. A collective of 'Yes sirs' and 'Rogers' came from his men as a green light could be seen above the drop area. "Okay let's move!"

The hunters went first, then quickly followed by Hyus, Breese, and the other elites.

The six men hit the ground running as a beam rifle round flew overhead. Hyus and his men where quickly inside the underground facility and running down the steps into the base. "Lights on!" Hyus ordered.

Everyone turned on their lights, except the hunters, and continued at an almost sprinting pace into the entrance room. As soon as they reached the room at least twelve raider elites stood in front of them, shocked at what they saw.

"What the…?" One of the raiders said in shock, but as soon as he said these words one of the hunters smashed him to the side and continued running towards the center hallway.

"Keep moving! Don't stop!" Hyus shouted. The raiders quickly realized what was happening and began shooting at Hyus and his troops, who began returning fire immediately.

Once Hyus reached the hallway a door opened off the side and an Elite pulled him into the room. Hyus was thrown into the far wall with a loud 'thud', knocking the breath from his lungs and dropping his plasma rifle. Even being slightly dazed from the shock, Hyus lunged to the side as an energy sword sliced into where he once stood. Hyus looked up and saw a massive Elite, at least one foot taller than he, charging towards him, energy sword in hand.

Hyus dodged the initial slashed and punched the raider in the stomach, but this did little to deter the massive body of flesh. Said body of flesh went on to head-butt Hyus in the face making Hyus staggered backwards from the sheer force of the blow. The massive raider then kicked Hyus in the chest, sending him into a bench on the far side of the room.

Hyus shakily stood up from the bench and looked up to see the massive Elite bring its sword up above its head to end his life. Hyus was about to react when a leg was smashed into the side of the massive elites head. Said Elite staggered to the side and was then rippled with carbine rounds at close range. The rounds smashed into the Elites shield until the shield burst from taking too much damage.

After the shield had been cracked, Hyus's savior pulled out an energy sword of his own and rammed said sword into the raider's chest. After a small struggle, the massive elite died and slumped to the floor after the energy sword was released.

Hyus looked over at the elite that just saved him and saw a Special Operations Elite saluting back. SO Elites are easy to recognize due to their helmets coving up their entire head, but this elite was smaller than most elites.

Hyus sighed and walked up to the obviously young Elite. "Thank you. I owe you son, but let's get moving. We don't have the manpower to stay and fight."

The SO Elite nodded and followed Hyus out into the hallway to see his men aiming down the hallway. Bresse walked up to Hyus and gave him a once over. "You okay?"

"Yeah, got my ass kicked, but should be fine thanks to this guy." Hyus said before pointing towards the SO Elite. Bresse glanced at said Sangheili and gave the Elite a grateful nod for helping Hyus. "So, where's the raiders? I thought they'd be chasing us."

Just as those words left Hyus's mouth, a fierce fire fight could be heard behind them. Meaning the raiders had bigger problems than them. "Okay, let's get moving towards the terminal that the heretics instructed."

**XxXxX**

Hyus and his men continued moving until they were met by a large door. The two hunters began to charge up their cannons and take aim at the door when something caught their attention.

"Now there's no need to destroy this facility anymore than it already has been." A voice said from behind them. Everyone quickly turned and took aim at the newcomer, only to see a floating metal ball with a purple eye.

"Wait… an Oracle?" Hyus asked before lowering his weapon, his men following suit.

"'Oracle'? That's a strange name, but I'm 0-101 Moon Light and I'm the Monitor of Installation PV." Light said as he hovered over towards Hyus. "And why, might I ask, are you here?"

"We are here to find something." Hyus said.

"And that would be?" Light pushed.

"We are here to find either information on the Halos, or the 'Creator'." Hyus explained.

"The Creator? Why would you want to meet him?" Light asked.

"So he does exist!" Bresse exclaimed.

"Of course, but you already knew that, didn't you?" Light said with a slight chuckle.

"Where can we find him?" Hyus asked.

"Oh, he's on the other side of that door there." Light said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Wait, what?!" Hyus exclaimed as he turned towards the door. "Hunters!"

The two hunters began to charge up their cannons when Light interrupted them again.

"Now I wouldn't do that if I where you." Light suggested.

"How else are we going to get through?" Hyus asked.

"You could have just asked."

Hyus sighed and ordered the Hunters to stop charging up their cannons. "May we enter?"

"Of course not! Not without the Creators request you cannot!" Light said.

"So ask him!" Bresse shouted in anger.

"No need to get so angry." Light responded in annoyance.

**XxXxX**

'Wait… this is…!' Naruto thought as he read the information on the screen in front of him.

'It seems that the Heretics want to come in contact with you.' Light transmitted as the screen went black in front of Naruto. Said Forerunner placed his hand onto the terminal and a blue stream began to flow from the terminal into the connector in the back of his head.

'No time. Activate the Scuttle Protocol. Evac all sentinels and equipment possible.' Naruto said as, off to the side of the terminal, two metal beams floated up next to each other. An energy began to pool in between the poles before a small blue ball was formed at the center. A fixed teleporter.

'But what about you? Where are you going?' Light asked out of concern.

'I'm following a lead that just came up. I'll contact you again when I've made it to my destination.' Naruto replied.

'As you wish.' Light replied.

**XxXxX**

"What was his answer?" Hyus asked, becoming more and more impatient. Light perked up and looked around slightly before setting its gaze on the beings in front of it.

"The Creator is very busy at the moment and has asked that you all leave immediately." Light said. Bresse growled in anger at the answer.

"I see… hunters!" Hyus ordered. Said hunters began to charge up their weapons and point them at the door once more, but suddenly the ground began to shake violently.

"What in the world was that?!" Bresse shouted.

"This facility is currently undergoing Protocol 4890." Light said.

"And what is that?" Hyus asked, another rumble shaking the ground beneath them.

"This place is currently being scuttled." Light said plainly. Hyus growled once more in anger before turning towards his hunters.

"Blow open that door!" Hyus ordered. The hunters complied and fire their weapons into the door. The first pair of blasts dented the door inwards, but not opening it. "Get those doors open!"

The hunters fired another volley of rounds into the door. Light, meanwhile, watched in curiosity as the Heretics desperately tried to open the door until finally disappearing in a flash of yellow.

"Fire another volley!" Hyus shouted. Another volley smashed into the door, cracking it open slightly. Another volley smashed the door in slightly, but the door held firm. Hyus ordered his hunters to stop before he ran up to the door.

"Do you see anything?" Bresse asked as another rumble shook them about slightly.

"No... nothing yet, I-." Hyus said before something caught his eye. "Wait I see something!"

'Sir, we are picking seismic activity around the Forerunner facility! You need to get out of there now!' Ugana shouted over the mic.

But Hyus wasn't listening as he stared through the crack in the door. Hyus could see the figure of something walking towards a portal.

"Wait, Creator!" Hyus shouted, trying to get its attention. The figure stopped and looked over towards the door. Hyus was about to say something, but was pulled to the side. Before Hyus could say anything he saw the SO elite from earlier squeeze his body through the gap in the door.

Hyus quickly ran up to the door and saw that the figure had walked through the portal and the SO Elite was running towards the portal. "Wait! What are you-?!"

But before Hyus could finish his sentence the SO Elite threw himself into the portal just as it closed. Hyus stared at the now dark room in complete shock.

And just like that, the 'Creator' and one of his men disappeared. Their first chance, gone in the blink of an eye. Hyus crumpled to ground as he stared into the void where the 'Creator' once stood.

"Sir!" Bresse shouted as he ran over to Hyus. Bresse grabbed his commander's shoulder and shook. "Sir, we need to get moving!"

After another shake, Hyus quickly snapped out of it and stood up. "You're right, let's get out of here!"

"Yes sir!" Everyone shouted before sprinting towards the way they came in. Another rumble, this one fiercer than the last, rocked the ground beneath them knocking over one of the hunters. Hyus quickly stopped and put everything he had into pulling the downed hunter up. Bresse and the other elite helped Hyus and the hunter was soon back on his feet.

After a quick sprint to the entrance, Hyus noticed that there was no longer any raiders here, well… any raiders that were alive. The small team continued past the dead raiders and up the stairs.

"We are going to need a fast pick up!" Hyus shouted over his mic. After a few moments of silence and static heard the pilot over the mic.

"Roger that!" The pilot responded. Hyus and his men sprinted out of the facility just as another rumble shook the ground beneath them. The Spirit transport ship hovered above, with a blue beam leading down to the ground. Hyus stopped next to the beam and turned around. One by one his men ran into the beam until he was the only one left.

'That's all of them…' Hyus thought before looking around the swamp. The AA guns that once hovered above the water had disappeared. 'Save one.'

Hyus cursed himself and walked into the beam. After being sucked up into the ship, Hyus ordered his pilot to return to the cruiser.

After a short flight back to the cruiser, Hyus hopped off the Spirit and walked over to the large docking bay doors. Ordering the cruiser to head back to the fleet, Hyus looked down at the swamplands below and saw something incredible.

Just as the docking bay doors began to close, due to exiting the atmosphere, a massive grey ship began to immerge from the water and speed past them. The doors closed and Hyus stared at the door in shock. "D-Did you just see what I saw?"

Hyus turned and saw Bresse, and everyone else in the docking bay, adoring the same expression as his. Hyus nodded in astonishment before rushing past them and to the bridge of the cruiser. "Ugana! Are you seeing this?!"

"See what? I don't see any… what the hell is that?!" Ugana shouted in surprise.

"Speak to me, what's it doing?" Hyus asked.

"It's leaving the area at a remarkable speed! How'd it leave the atmosphere that quickly?" Ugana said in shock.

"It doesn't matter, can you chase it?" Hyus asked as the cruiser he was on began to push into space.

"I don't think so. The Covenant are arriving in a few minutes and we need to get out of here." Ugana replied. Hyus growled and slammed his fist into the nearest wall.

"Fine, once we rendezvous, get us away from here." Hyus said.

"As you wish." Ugana replied before cutting the connection between them. After a few seconds of silence a huge explosion could be heard behind them. The blast rocked the ship around a bit, but nothing damaged the ship.

Hyus turned and saw Bresse leaning against the door that exited the bridge.

"We'll get him next time." Bresse said.

"Yeah… I just hope he's not an enemy, but a friend." Hyus said.

"Well, we won't know until we meet him."

Hyus smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder as he walked by. "You're damn right. Come on, let's go check on the men."

**XxXxX-End**

**A/N Please read! This one is important!**

Here's the next the chapter! I hope everyone is liking the story so far because I'm having a blast writing it! A little sooner than what you guys thought, eh? :P

But there are some things I need to bring up that everyone has to understand. When I first published this story four years ago (dear lord it's been that long?!) there was little to no information on the Forerunners to work with. I was grasping at strings and had to create a lot of it due to the limited information that was at hand.

I realize that now there is a game, Halo 4, which goes into detail about the Forerunner 'CS's', that I've coined them, and a backstory that wasn't originally there. There is even a trilogy of books on the Forerunners now, something that was not available to me then.

So I ask everyone this now, should I go back and change my story to be more updated to what the Forerunners are today?

Or, should I keep writing the story as if I had the limited information I had before? I'll still throw some of the new things I've learned about the Forerunners into the story, but keep with the old setting.

Please let me know as I'm at a complete loss of what to do. I'm willing to go both ways, but I'd prefer to stick with the story I have going now. I like where it's going and I think most of you guys do too!

As always everyone, thanks for reading my story! :D


	7. Dark Soar

**XxXxX**

The cold bite of the high mountains clawed at Naruto's suit as said Forerunner glanced down the icy halls of the once great, but hidden, Forerunner facility. Snow covered the corners of the halls while ice and rock molded with the walls of the hallway. Light entered through either the windows to the vast mountain range outside, or small holes in the roof. Snow fell from said holes as a blizzard raged outside, making a rather loud noise.

Naruto could tell that it was the afternoon on this part of the planet and that he was counting down the seconds that passed by ever since he departed the last facility. The facility he was in now, known as Dark Soar, holds vital information that would soon be deleted if Naruto doesn't reach the terminal in time. The countdown started when the last terminals', in the swamplands of the last planet, information was accessed, which meant that the young forerunner had to make it to the second terminal before the vital information was deleted.

But Naruto had a problem that he was not anticipating being thrust onto him. Naruto was currently sitting against one of the walls of the many rooms inside Dark Soar with a passed out Sangheili laying on the ground. His black armor and helmet signified him as a Special Operations Elite, but the elite was smaller than most. Shorter, more nimble, but there was something else about the elite that seemed… off.

Naruto shrugged it off and sighed deeply at his current predicament. He could just leave the elite here, but they were extremely far from any Covenant, or Heretic, outpost so the elites' chances of survival are slim, if not nonexistent.

Naruto cursed himself for being so soft towards others and swiftly stood from his seated position. If the elite was going to survive then he need to come with him, but Naruto was being timed and every second he waited for the elite to stir from his slumber, it taxed his chances for retrieving the information from that terminal.

After moving from his seated position to the elite side, Naruto kneeled down and pressed a button on the side of the elites' helmet. The helmet made a soft noise before it loosened from around the elites head.

The small sangheili stirred slightly at Naruto movement near his head, but remained asleep while the young Forerunner gently removed the elite's helmet. Naruto raised a brow at what he saw underneath the helmet because, while there was no law against it, it was seen as abnormal or taboo at best.

The sangheili was not a _he, _but a _she_.

The young forerunner rubbed the back of his head in confusion before placing the helmet he was holding onto the ground next to the female sangheili. After a few more seconds of processing what he should do, the sangheili groaned and began to move around. She was obviously sore from either fighting her way to get to the portal, or passing through the portal itself. It did feel weird and if you are neither; used to it, or prepared then it can pressure your body immensely.

Naruto continued to look over her equipment before finally finding the human equivalent to a dog tag. "Rha' Mantakrea…" Naruto said to himself before moving away from Rha and towards the door.

"W-where am I?" The elite asked to no one in particular. She moved her hands up to eyes and rubbed them, but stopped after a moment of doing this. "My helmet! Where's my helmet?!"

She seemed so panicked by the concept of losing her helmet, but Naruto understood why. Female soldiers are few and far between, and normally seen as taboo in sangheili culture. Females are generally supposed to stay home and defend the homestead while the males served in the military. While female sangheili joining the military is rare at best, how a female managed to join the Special Operations branch alluded Naruto.

Rha finally saw her helmet sitting next her and picked it up quickly, as if it was the only keeping her alive. Naruto shook his head and pressed a button on the console next to the door. The door beeped twice before swiftly opening to the hallway outside.

The noise from the door alerted her to Naruto's presence and she reacted accordingly. Moving like a seasoned warrior, and as nimble as a ninja, she turned and reached for her energy sword. But when Rha placed her hand on her leg, where her energy sword was supposed to be, she realized it was not there.

But the glare she was giving Naruto remained in place, meaning she either knew who he was and didn't like him, or didn't know and thought Naruto was an enemy.

"Are you the 'Creator'?" Rha asked with slight hint of anger and annoyance in her voice. Naruto tilted his head slightly and nodded.

It became clear to Naruto that she was not a fan of him. Her glare intensified after she received her response, but Rha remained standing in a battle stance in case Naruto tried anything.

"You're a fake… aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Would you believe me if I told you I wasn't?"

Rha gritted her teeth together in obvious annoyance at Naruto's answer. "No, I wouldn't."

A silence fell over the two forces. Rha continued to take periodic glances around the room, probably to search for one of her missing weapons. Naruto had, right when Rha fell from the portal, took her weapons and placed them outside the door. Just in case his pursuer had any wrong intentions.

"So what will you do?" Naruto asked, his helmet masking his face from Rha.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto thought it was rather obvious what her current position was. "You are currently on an unknown planet far from Covenant controlled space with no way of getting home." Naruto explained before turning and walking out the door. Rha's eyes followed his every move, but there was no ill intent coming from the way he walked.

"Meaning…" Naruto went on to say.

"You're my only way back…" Rha finished with forced contempt. She didn't trust the young creature, but he was holding all the cards. Something that didn't sit well with Rha.

"Yes, so what will you do now?" Naruto asked once again from the hallway. Rha looked down at the ground for a moment, weighing her options. "If you wish to follow me then you may, I will not stop you."

Rha looked up to see Naruto beginning to walk away from her. "Or you can stay here and die in this facility. Alone. Those are your choices and you are free to choose."

And then he was gone. Rha let out a breath of air that she didn't realize she was holding. What was she to do now? Follow this fake around until he allows her to go home or meet back up with the Burning Legion? What about her original mission to get Hyus to meet this creature? The portal had disappeared, and the last facility had been destroyed. Meaning there was no getting back and no being followed.

No matter how much she hated it, the fake was right. Rha had no other way of getting home and this creature knew it. "Wait!"

Rha ran out the door, after picking up her helmet, and looked down both ways. He was nowhere in sight, but there was only one way he could have gone. One way led to a dead end with an ice covered door so that means, given that he can't walk through walls, he went the opposite way.

'He better not have left me after saying that…' Rha began to run but kicked something as she began to make her way down the frozen hallway. The young sangheili glanced down and saw her weapons, a carbine with an ammo belt and an energy sword, lying near the door. 'Did he…?'

It didn't matter what the fake was doing or thinking, she needed him to get back home and Rha was going to use him for as long as possible.

**XxXxX**

"Look, commander, I know you want to find the Creator and your lost soldier, but if you begin this search with no lead then it will only strain your supplies and frustrate your troops." A voice said from over a screen on the main bridge of Hyus's flagship. On the screen stood a Heretic commander with red armor. Hyus, Bresse, Polaris, and Ugana stood in front of the screen, but the commander of the ship was extremely frustrated.

"Listen her Voro, I _saw _the Creator and he went through a portal along with one of my men. I don't care how long it will take! I will find this creature and he will answer our questions about the prophecy!" Hyus boomed in anger. The room went quiet at the pure force of Hyus's voice. On one hand, you must give Hyus credit for his determination in finding the Creator, but Voro brought up a very valid point.

"If you so wish it then you can continue your search. I'm not the commander of your troops, but I am an ally. And, as such, I will advise you to not search for the Creator until we have a way to communicate with your soldier that managed to follow him through the portal or find him through our research." Voro explained. Hyus was grinding his teeth in anger at the thought of stopping the search before it even began.

"And how long will this _research_ take?" Hyus asked.

"Like anything that deals with the Forerunners, we don't know. Ever since the Creator came into the picture it has become extremely hard to get ahold of anything."

"That's not good enough! My man could be long since dead by the time your research is completed!"

"Get used to it Hyus!" Voro said in an unusual angry tone. Voro was known for being calm and collected under any circumstance, but it seemed that Hyus was straining his patience. "You are a commander and sometimes you lose men. I thought by now you would be used to a few men being killed under your command, but I suppose I was wrong."

Hyus growled in frustration at the tone Voro responded. "It's not my man I'm so angry about!" Hyus exclaimed as he slammed his fists into the table. Voro sighed deeply at Hyus's predicament.

Hyus had seen the Creator in the flesh and not being to end their search before it even began was a blow to the Heretics, and his pride. "Look, we don't know where they went or how far they traveled. If you search for them now then nothing good will come of it."

After a moment of silence and deep thinking, "I know… I know, but I was so close to meeting it and finally getting the information we need to break the hold of the Prophets."

"We all wish for the Prophets lies to be brought to an end, but we must be patient. If we expend all our energy and resources now then we will only break ourselves." Voro said reassuringly. The leader of the Burning Legion sighed deeply and nodded.

"Agreed. What do you suggest we do?" Hyus asked. Bresse grumbled under his breath at that last question. He didn't really like Hyus taking orders from others that where of equal rank.

"There's a planet named Dolirus where we have an outpost set up. You can rest and resupply there for the time being until we find anything. Here's the coordinates."

"We've received the coordinate's sir!" A soldier said.

"Sounds like a plan. Anything else?" Hyus asked.

"Just remember this commander," Voro said as Hyus went to turn off the screen, "I'm not your commander. You can do anything that you feel is right, just try and consult me before you go and do something… precarious."

Hyus chuckled at his use of words and nodded. "You better do the same. We're in this together."

"Indeed we are. Good luck commander and have a good rest." Voro said before cutting the link between the two ships.

"We aren't seriously going to end the search, are we?" Polaris asked.

"What choice do we have? We have no clue where they went. They could be anywhere in the universe. Besides, we need to restock our inventory of food and water." Hyus said as he began to walk around the table towards his chair. Polaris followed him before standing in front of him. "What now?"

"What about the soldier that chased the 'Creator' through the portal? What will happen to him?" Polaris asked.

"Like Voro said, we've all lost men before. This situation is no different." Bresse said from the other side of the table. "While I wish we could have stopped him from jumping into the portal-."

"So we are just going to leave him?!" Polaris exclaimed. Hyus tilted his head to the side as he studied his Special Operations commander.

"Why are you so vocal about losing him? Was he your friend?" Hyus asked.

"Yeah…" Polaris replied with withheld emotion. "You could say that…"

Hyus sighed deeply at his friends' position. He placed a hand on Polaris's shoulder before speaking, "What's his name?"

"Rha." Polaris responded.

"Rha, huh? Well we can only hope that the Creator has enough hospitality for our friend." Hyus said before removing his hand.

"But what if he's a fake? What if we find him and he's not an actual Forerunner?" Polaris asked. Many of the other crew members were now looking at them as they talked. Hyus noticed this and realized that not everyone on his ship believed that the Creator was an actual Forerunner. While, personally, Hyus truly believes that the Creator was a Forerunner, he couldn't blame the portion of his men that believes he's a fake.

"Even so, he can access the archives of the sentinels and if he truly is a fake like some of you believe, then at the very least he will be able to find out if these Halos truly are what the Prophets say they are." Hyus said. Polaris nodded, accepting the answer Hyus has given. The other crewmembers on the bridge also seemed to accept his answer and returned to work.

"But what about Rha?" Polaris asked, still fretting over the soldier that he lost.

"Like I said before, let's just hope that the Creators' hospitality is on the same level as a Covenant Priest."

**XxXxX**

"And here I thought you were going to stay behind." Naruto said when Rha appeared around the corner of the hallway.

"It's not like I've got a choice." Rha spat.

"At least you're not pointing your weapon at me. That's a start." Naruto said before pressing a button on the door. The red light changed from red to green and slid open.

'We can only get those doors open by smashing them open or hacking them. This Creator must be an extremely prevalent hacker…' Rha thought as she followed the young Forerunner though the door and into yet another hallway. Like the one before, the door at the other end was frozen closed by a large block of ice, but the door was open underneath it.

"Hmm…" Naruto mumbled as he approached the built in glacier.

Rha watched closely as the fake began to inspect the large the massive wall of ice before stopping and taking a step back. 'What's he-.'

Naruto gingerly lifted his arm and pointed it at the ice. After a moment of silence, to Rha's annoyance, Naruto's hand began to glow a bright red that resembled the sun. It only took a couple more seconds before a massive red beam exploded out from Naruto's hand, melting the ice. Leaving a tunnel melted through the center of the ice.

'Wow.' Rha stared at Naruto and the melted ice in amazement, but quickly masked her surprise with a frown. If this fake has managed to steal this much technology and gain control of some of the sentinels then…

Naruto was looking at Rha, confusion masked behind his helmet, as she stared at the young forerunner. This snapped Rha out of her daze when she realized Naruto was looking at her.

"Shut it 'fake'. I don't know how you've gained control of so much of the Forerunners' technology, but you better be prepared to answer some questions." Rha said prematurely as Naruto crawled into the hole.

The hole was small and the walls where warm, even though they were clearly made of ice. A red hue resonated from parts of the wall, and burnt when touched.

Naruto crawled out of the hole and into the icy conditions outside. Visibility was low and the ground had been iced over, making it hard to walk. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, due to the blizzard, but a narrow bridge ran out from the mountain spire to another, much taller, mountain spire at the other end of the bridge. All around them the blizzard cloaked the beautiful mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see. The harsh winds pushed against him and made his cloak flap in the wind.

"Could have made the hole a little bigger." Rha had just removed herself from the tunnel of ice and was trying her best to get a foothold on the icy surface.

The young forerunner truly hoped that Rha was not going to be like this entire time. Maybe he should have just left her on the ground if this was the way she was going to act around him. Not that Naruto wasn't used to this sort of treatment. He got his share bad treatment when he was kid growing up.

Naruto decided it best to simply not respond and walk out into the blizzard. Even if she hated him, Rha stilled needed Naruto for the time being.

'I wonder why I'm even caring about this sangheili… it's not like I have a commitment to help her get home.' Naruto thought as he approached the bridge. The narrow bridge was simple and small, when compared to the architectural feats of other bridges the forerunners had built. A small railing, not enough to stop anyone or anything from falling, lined both sides of the bridge. The bridge was wide enough for two lanes of walking traffic, meaning that this facility was small and lightly manned by Naruto's ancestors.

"Follow." Naruto ordered with a harsh tone. Rha's eyes narrowed before she placed her helmet upon her head. Where did the harsh tone come from?

The two walked onto the bridge slowly to avoid slipping, but Naruto could tell that Rha was having a difficult time trying to stay upright. Over the next few minutes, however, their pace resembled that of an infant's crawl.

Rha slipped once again, this must have been the four time Rha had slipped, and fell to the ground. "Damn ice! This is all your fault you dirty fake!" Rha exclaimed in frustration. Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder at the disgruntled sangheili.

"If you would have just stayed and answered Hyus's questions then I wouldn't be trapped on an unknown planet with a greedy fake such as yourself!" Rha shouted as she fumbled about trying to stand.

The 'fake' decided it best to stay silent at Rha's demeaning words. The word 'fake' seems to be her favorite insult at the moment, but the more Rha talked, the more Naruto was inclined to just leave her in the frozen facility to die.

"Why are you in such a rush anyway? Why couldn't you have-." Rha said before finally standing up.

"Because I have other, more important, business to take care of that doesn't involve answering your petty questions." Naruto replied coldly.

"_Petty_?! What commander Hyus was going to ask you was not _petty_!" Rha shouted.

'I don't have time for this.'

The young forerunner shook his head and began to again walk across the bridge. By the time Rha got her footing strait, Naruto had disappeared into the harsh blizzard.

"Don't you dare leave-!" Rha shouted, but a loud shriek interrupted Rha's complaint.

The female sangheili froze in her place and began to look around her. The wall of white snow and harsh winds that blew against her armor camouflaged the creature that made the loud noise. Rha didn't move for a moment, as if trying to convince herself that what she heard was real and not just a figment of her imagination.

After waiting for a couple more seconds Rha took a step towards where Naruto disappeared, but stopped when the bridge shook violently. Silence followed as Rha readied her carbine and pointed it in the direction where they had come from.

The bridge shook once again, closer this time. Rha slowly began to back away from the trembles, but as she did the violent shakes started to become more and more frequent. The carbine in Rha's hands began to shake from, not just the cold, but fear.

Rha has been to various planets before that had violent indigenous wildlife, but nothing as big as what she was feeling now. When the shaking finally stopped there was a feeling of something extremely close staring at her from beyond the wall of blinding snow. A feeling of dread crawled up spine as her breathing became more rapid, as if her body was preparing her for something.

Out of the blizzards haze came a large birds head with black feathers and beak, just inches away from Rha's face. The beak was at least the size of a Wraith (Covenant mobile artillery/tank) and its head scaled to size. The giant bird had six dark red eyes that stared at Rha intensely.

The barrel of her carbine was almost touching the birds giant beak, but the female sangheili was frozen in place. Fear gripped onto Rha's muscles and refused loosen its deadly grasp.

Rha was shaken from her paralysis when the giant bird screeched into Rha's face, creating a massive gust of wind that forced Rha to slide backwards. The young sangheili stopped sliding and pointed her carbine at the bird before firing off a few rounds. This only seemed to make the massive feather monster even angrier as said monster flapped its massive wings, sending out another gust of wind and snow.

Seeing the potential of possibility falling off the side of the bridge, Rha quickly pulled out her sword and slammed it into the ice covered bridge beneath her. The wind smashed into her body, but she held firm while firing as many rounds into the giant beast as possible with her other available hand. When the bird finished flapping its wings, and saw Rha still holding firm to the ground, the beast summoned another screech from its beak.

Using its massive wings to propel itself forward, the bird shot towards Rha at an almost blinding speed. Caught off guard, Rha took a hit to her shoulder from the talons of the bird as she rolled to the side. Her body slamming into the railing of the bridge, purple blood streaking across the ground from where she once stood.

Slowly standing, Rha grasped her shoulder while looking around. The massive black bird was nowhere in sight. Blood continued to gently flow from her wound as she walked over to her sword and removed it from the ground.

Then, something moved out of the corner of her eye and when she turned a massive beak smashed into the chest plate of her armor. Rha flew backwards, sliding across the ice covered bridge as she's done before.

A bright blue light emitted from the snowy haze, but Rha had little time to think of what the light was as she barreled backwards.

Rha bounced over the railing and tried to grab onto the ledge. The ice that coated the bridge made this impossible, but the females' sangheili's survival instinct kicked in. Rha quickly pulled out her energy sword and smashed it into the side of the bridge. The sword sunk into the ice and metal below and halted her fall.

With a deep sigh, Rha looked below her to see how far the drop was, but found only the pure white of the blizzard staring back. The harsh winds of the high mountains pushed the dangling sangheili to and fro. Rha gritted her teeth as the feeling in her fingers began to leave her.

Using all the strength she could muster, Rha pulled herself up, but when she placed her other hand on the railing she couldn't grip the icy ledge. Her hand slipped and she fell back down, but when the she fell the sword sliced further down the side of the bridge.

'Damn it, at this rate…' Rha thought. Her fingers holding onto the sword where completely numb and the cold was now eating its way into her suit. 'I suppose I deserve this for being so reckless. Following that thing through the portal, listening to my fathers' crazy idea… going along with it. I should have just listened to mother and stayed at home like all other female sangheili.'

Rha's fingers began to slip from the sword as these thoughts passed through her mind. Thoughts of home, family, and friends began to fill her mind. 'I hope he doesn't blame himself for this…'

Then her hand slipped form the sword and she felt herself begin to fall.

**XxXxX**

"What is the meaning of this meeting? We were getting close to capturing the third tailed beast!" An image of Deidara shouted in frustration at being diverted from his original task.

"Guh… why do I even come to these things…" Kisame mumbled to himself.

"From what I can gather it's because of the nine-tails situation." Sasori said.

"Nine-tails situation? What situation?" Deidara asked as he looked over at Itachi and Kisame, who remained silent.

"I've been keeping this information silent until now, but I feel that it needs to be brought forth to everyone." Pain said to the group of S-class missing ninja.

"What information was so important that it needed to be withheld from us?" Hidan asked.

"Over the last two years we have been hunting the jinchuuriki and so far we have managed to capture the two, five, and six tailed beasts, but something has come up involving the nine tailed beast that has thrown a wrench into our plans." Pain explained.

"You didn't screw anything up did you Kisame?!" Deidara asked with a smug expression on his face.

"Shut your mouth you clay eating-." Kisame began to retort.

"Calm yourselves. This predicament was out of our hands." Pain said.

"What is this 'predicament'?" Kakuzu asked with a hint of annoyance at Deidara's antics.

"Two years ago the nine tailed jinchuuriki disappeared." Pain stated. The room remained silent at the prospect.

"You mean…?" Sasori started.

"Not even Zetsu could find him." Pain finished. The room went silent as everyone thought what the meaning of this new change of events.

"That is… interesting…" Kakuzu said, breaking the ice that befell the dangerous group of criminals.

"What will we do then? If Zetsu can't find it…" Hidan began, but trailed off near the end.

"But it seems we've had a stroke of luck." Pain explained.

"Oh? And what is this 'stroke of luck'?" Kakuzu asked, sarcasm laced in his voice.

"Before I move on, does everyone know of the Kilotic incident?" Pain asked.

"Who doesn't? It's been the talk of almost every village." Deidara said. "How the beautiful coastal city of the Southern Ocean was simply wiped out in an instant by a mysterious cloaked figure."

"What does that have to do with the nine-tails?" Hidan pressed.

"It seems that the destruction of Kilotic was its doing." Pain replied.

"Why would the nine-tails attack his own nation's town?" Sasori voiced more to himself than the others.

"We don't know, but Zetsu managed to see what destroyed the city. While he only saw a glimpse, it seems he used a powerful jutsu that destroyed the city in the blink of an eye." Pain explained.

"Must have been a powerful jutsu to be able to destroy an entire city." Kisame voiced.

"So what you're trying to say is the nine-tails has gone rouge." Deidara stated.

"The nine-tails going rouge doesn't concern us. What does matter is that he has reappeared and can be captured." Sasori stated.

"That is true, but we have learned we cannot rely on Zetsu to track him down." Pain said. "So, from this day forth, Kakuzu and Hidan will join Itachi and Kisame in the search for the nine-tails."

"As you wish." Kakuzu replied.

"As for everyone else, continue with your missions as instructed." Pain ordered before disappearing from his position on his finger.

Everyone else disappeared soon afterwards. Leaving only the statue and its cold lair to itself.

**XxXxX**

"Got you." A voice rang out as Rha felt someone grab onto her forearm. The female sangheili looked up and saw the 'fake' grabbing onto her arm.

"What are you-?" Rha began to say before Naruto began pulling her up over the railing and onto the bridge. Rha fell onto the bridge, breathing heavily, and grasping onto her bleeding shoulder. The female sangheili looked up at Naruto and noticed he was simply looking down at her, but since she couldn't see underneath Naruto's helmet, Rha saw this as a mark or impatience or annoyance.

What really Naruto felt was a mixture of pity and concern.

"Where's the giant creature?" Rha asked while trying to stand. Naruto pointed behind her and as she turned she saw red blood slowing freezing against the ice. Finally Rha recognized the giant bird that had attacked her, but with one thing missing.

Its head had disappeared from its neck.

"I thought you were in a rush?" Rha asked.

"I am." Was Naruto's simple reply before he reached down to help the female sangheili stand, but was rejected.

"I can take care of myself." Rha replied with spite.

"I know you can." Naruto calmly replied before helping Rha stand. Said elite sighed before letting Naruto lift her up and sling her arm over his shoulder. 'She is a stubborn one.'

A subtle sigh left Naruto's mouth as he began to support the young sangheili across the bridge. Rha's height was close to Naruto's, except she was a little taller than him. Over the course of the next ten minutes Rha would occasionally slip, only to be picked up by Naruto. 'How is he not slipping on this ice? Is it because of something in his suit?'

The two finally made it to the other side of the bridge and Naruto opened the door. After moving inside, Naruto began to see the frost that had built up on Rha's suit and the shiver that ran through her body. The blood had stopped running down her shoulder and there was a giant dent in her armor.

Naruto turned to the young one and lifted his hand.

"What are you doing?" Rha asked as Naruto's hand began to glow red. Rha slowly began to back away from Naruto until finally hitting the wall behind her. Naruto walked up to Rha and placed his hand on her armor.

She then felt warmth enter her body and her armor begin to heat up. The built up ice and frost that latched onto her armor began to melt away as feeling began to return to Rha's outer appendages.

A sigh of relief escaped Rha's mouth. Naruto knew that Rha appreciated being rescued, but also knew that changing her vision of him being 'fake' would take time. In the end, though, Naruto didn't really care what Rha thought of him. Once they were off this planet he would drop her off at the nearest sangheili colony and be on his way.

After a couple more seconds, Naruto placed his hand on Rha's wound and a dark blue light began to emit from his hand. The pain in her shoulder began to fade away over the course of a couple seconds. 'This may not heal the wound, but it should decrease the pain for now.'

Naruto stood and looked down at the now sitting sangheili. "You can stay here if you'd like, but I need to-."

"Keep moving? I know." Rha said before standing up. Naruto nodded and began to walk down the hallway, Rha following behind him.

Yeah, he saved her, Rha will admit that, but that doesn't mean he isn't a fake. There is simply no possible way that a Forerunner has lived this entire time. Especially just one! How could a single Forerunner live for so long without reproducing? Unless they live for a _very_ long time, which seemed extremely unlikely given the circumstances.

A short time passed with them walking down various hallways and rooms in silence. The facility looked like every other Forerunner facility that she's been in when she was in the Covenant. It seems like every time they'd find a Forerunner facility it would have little to no useful objects or information on the surface. To find the meat and bones of what the facility had to offer you'd have to dig or hack your way into their systems, but even that didn't work half of the time.

Rha looked at the back of the cloaked creature in front of her. She's never seen a creature like this one before, but he knew their language and dialect. How they moved and what they revered most. Rha began to wonder how this creature, who's intelligence was so high, grew up. 'I wonder if it has a name?'

"If want to say something then say it." Naruto said without turning. Rha jumped slightly at the sudden break in silence.

"It's nothing." Rha stated. She wasn't very convincing when she said this, but she guessed her helmet did a pretty good job of masking her voice since he didn't push the matter.

Another silence settled between the two before Naruto stopped in front of a door. The door was just like any other that lined the hallway, but it had a keypad on the wall next to it. The young forerunner typed in a few characters into the keypad and the red light at the center of the door turned green. After turning green, the door beeped softly before sliding open.

Naruto walked into the room and noticed the massive terminal on the opposite side of the wall. Its screen had a timer that continued to count down. 'Three minutes…?' Rha asked herself, trying to figure out what the purpose of the timer was.

The timer stopped when the fake placed a hand on the terminals' keyboard. The terminal quickly unlocked itself after recognizing the owner of the hand.

"Authorization accepted." The terminal said in a language that Rha could not understand. Words and characters appeared on the screen that the young sangheili didn't understand either.

"You understand that?" Rha asked as Naruto began to shift through the information in the terminal, looking for something very specific.

"I do." Naruto replied.

"How?" Rha questioned further.

"If I told you then you wouldn't believe me."

It was true. If Naruto said that it was because he was a Forerunner then Rha would simply blow it off as another lie, but then how did he take care of that giant bird that nearly killed her? It had to have been the suit that this creature stole from the Ancient Ones.

Rha remained silent as she watched Naruto rapidly move through the information that only he could understand. "Why did you come back?"

Naruto stopped typing on the keyboard.

"I mean, I'm just another sangheili to you." That much is true. Rha was just another sangheili that didn't mean much to him. If he would have simply let her die on that bridge then nothing would have changed and he would have moved on like nothing ever happened. "And to me you're a fake that has been taking advantage of what the Ancient Ones left behind."

To be perfectly honest, Naruto had no idea why he went back to save Rha. This young sangheili was a mystery factor that could possibly hurt or help Naruto. Said forerunner never liked the prospect of walking into the unknown, but it seems that as of late that's all he's been facing. Still, the thought of letting something or someone die just because he couldn't be bothered struck a chord with Naruto.

Life back on his home planet was so much more simple…

Naruto sighed heavily before returning to his research. That question needed to be shuffled to the back of his mind for now because there was more important things to take care of.

Rha waited for a response, but nothing came from the quiet creature in front of her. This would have annoyed her, but she was too tired to follow up on her question. The medical treatment that Naruto had applied to her shoulder was fading and all she wanted to do was sleep.

It only took a few more seconds of watching the cloaked creature type away at the terminal before her eyes began to droop. Rha's muscles slowly betrayed her as she pressed her back against the wall on the far side of the room.

Rha knew that, if she fell asleep, that she would be vulnerable, but with her mind fading away… the only thing she hope for is…

The sound of something sliding against the wall made itself known to Naruto as said forerunner turned to see Rha sitting against the wall with her head drooped down to her chest. Naruto smiled at the sleeping form of Rha. He was glad to see her get some rest after everything that has happened today.

'Must have been hard to chase after someone that may be hostile for the sake of her comrades.' Naruto thought as another thought came to his mind. 'I wonder if her comrades ever knew of her gender?'

Naruto shrugged off the thought and continued to navigate through the terminal in front of him. He needed to find out what his predecessor found on the Gravemind. If what Naruto found on the last terminal was any indication, then the last Hero of the Heavens may have stumbled onto something that could possibly take care of the Gravemind for good.

**XxXxX-End**

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but school has been handing me a new one as of late and I've barely had any time to write, let alone think. I want to see where this chapter goes and where it's heading in the future. Please, before anyone says 'You just added Rha into the story for some love interest blah blah blah'.

No. Rha has a very important part in the plot and if I said anymore then I would simply ruin it. So, enjoy the ride! I think it will only get better from here.

As for what I'm going to do with the new information that has come out in recent years. It seems most people want me to incorporate the new technology into the story as it progresses. Possibly through discovery or Naruto's own inventions, the decision on how this new information will be added into the story will be made as we progress. Now I know that this decision will not please everyone and I can only do so much for the people that are on either extremes, rewriting it with the new information or completely leaving out all the new information, but I feel like this is the direction that I wanted to take the story as well. And I'm glad to see the majority of my readers agree with me!

As always everyone, thanks for reading my story! :D


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